The Diary Of A Country Parson

THE

D I A

R Y

OF A

COUNTRY

PARSON

FORTHCOMING

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* A charming volume . the gleanings of a scholar *

77;e Jlfaiuhrster Guardian

THE REVEREND JAMES WOODFORDE
By Samuel Woodforde, R A

THE

DIARY

O F A

COUNTRY PARSON

The Reverend

J^MES fFOODFORDE.

Edited by JOHN BERESFORD

LONDON: HUMPHREY MILFORD,
OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS.

1924.

First editton^ April 1924
Second impression^ June IQ24

PRINTED IN ENGLAND
AT THE OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS
BY FREDERICK HALL

TO

LORD FITZMAURICE
OF LEIGH

In Memory of many Good

Talks of History, Books,

and Men

in a Wiltshire Garden.

PREFATORY NOTE

The Diary of the Reverend James Woodforde covers
nearly every single day of the long stretch of years from
1758 to 1803. It is written in a handwriting as clear as
print, almost as small, and much more closely compressed,
and the manuscript runs through some sixty-eight book-
lets Were the whole to be printed, it would hardly be
contained within less than a dozen stout volumes. This
remarkable manuscript is in private hands, and its very
existence is unknown even to the Historical Manuscripts
Commission, who have cast their invaluable net over
most of the private collections in this country

My introduction to the Diary has been made through
my friend. Dr. R E. H. Woodforde, of Ashwell, Herts,
the great-great-great-nephew of the Reveiend James
Woodforde, who now possesses the manuscript, and who,
with much kindness, has allowed me to read it through
and take extracts from it ^

I have dealt with the characteristics of the Diarist and
the Diary in the Introduction, but there is one overriding
charactenstic which I wish to emphasize at the outset.
The Reverend James Woodforde was not in his own day
a great or even a distinguished man, whatever place he
may take hereafter in the world of letters. The passion

^ Dr Woodforde possesses numerous portraits, records, and ancestral
relics of idle Woodforde family I am indebted to him for much genea-
logical and other information

vu

Prefatory Note

for notoriety is wholly absent In the concluding words
of a famous sonnet — ‘tranquillity is here’. To me this
country voice, till now as unknown and as mute as those
immortahzed in Gray’s Elegy, came with a wonderful
and contrasting freshness

One word as to my editorial method is necessary.
As I have explained, if the Diary were to be printed
in Its entirety, a dozen stout volumes at least would be
required. One day I hope the whole Diary will thus be
presented to the world. Meanwhile my transcriptions
are sufficiently full, frequent, and continuous to present
the character of the Diarist and his time in very intimate
detail - In order to accomplish the essential project of
a continuous narrative, I have hnked up intervening
periods of days, weeks, or months, where necessary, wath
a bnef account of what was happening in those inter-
vemng periods And in the same way I have interspersed,
though as rarely as possible — and more and more rarely
as the Diary proceeds, such explanations of the historical
scene as seemed hkely to assist the reader. Had the
present edition of the Diary been a day to day transcrip-
tion, this method would for the most part have been
unnecessary, and foot-notes could have accomplished
much, though by no means all, that an editor should
supply for instance, the Diarist’s career at Oxford
would not be intelhgible without some account of the
University system in the eighteenth century, a subject
altogether beyond the scope of a foot-note(seepp. 158-62).
In a work of this character I would rather not be dis-
tracted frequently by those compelhng foot-notes which
one hates to read and fears to miss If the reader dislikes

vm

Prefatory Note

me, he can see me coming, skip me, and proceed with
the Diary. Only he must be careful how he skips,
because in so doing he may lose the thread of the
narrative.

I have adhered to the Diarist’s speUing, which in
accordance with eighteenth-century idiosyncrasy in this
matter, was by no means consistent, especially in the
case of proper names.

This volume covers the period 1758-81. If public
appreciation and support are forthcoming, a second
volume will carry on the narrative through the years
which follow, years pregnant with war, with peace, with
the French Revolution, with the wars, excursions, and
alarums arising therefrom — ^ripphng even to a Country
Rectory, — and with the vanishing stream of human
things, as viewed by that lovable being, the Reverend
James Woodforde

JOHN BERESFORD

Ashwell End,

Baldock, Hekts.

Cbnstmas, 1923

ix

CONTENTS

PAGE

PREFATORY NOTE

vii-ix

INTRODUCTION .

r-io

THE DIARY

11-340

Part I : Oxford and the Somerset Curacies,
1758-76

11-180

Part H : Weston Longeville, Norfolk,
1776-1803

181-340

INDEX . . 341-364

ILLUSTRATIONS

Portrait of tlie Diarist.

By Samuel Woodforde, R.A. . Frontispiece

The Old Parsonage, Ansford

Portrait of William Woodforde.
By Samuel Woodforde, R.A.

Portrait of Nancy Woodforde.

By Samuel Woodforde, R.A.

To face page 176
>» j> 270

» » 33 ^

Far from the madding crowd’s ignoble strife,

Their sober wishes never learned to stray
Along the cool, sequestered vale of life
They kept the noiseless tenor of their way.

(Elegy mitten in a Country Churchyard )

INTRODUCTION

In the first place it will be convenient if I give some
account of the family of the Reverend James Woodforde
(1740-1803), specially as it will throw light on how the
Diary came to be written at all. For James came of
good literary stock. His earliest known ancestor was
one John Woodforde of Scaldwell, Co. Northampton,
who was living in 1513. His great-great-grandfather,
Robert Woodforde (1606-54), Steward of Northampton,
kept a diary in the days before the Civil War, a diary parts
of which have been published by the Historical Manu-
scripts Commission.^ By way of gossip it may be said
in passing that this particular diary opens with an entry
about a dispute, which had arisen between Robert’s
wife and Robert’s mother, as to the preservation and dis-
posal of some sugar plums. Robert, who was a grave
man and of the Puritan persuasion, is much perturbed by
this domestic difference, and enters a prayer in his diary
that greater discretion may be vouchsafed to his wife
in future.

Robert’s son was the Reverend Samuel Woodforde,
D D. and F.R.S. (1636-1701) who wrote A paraphrase
upon the Psalms of David, and numbered among his friends
Bishops Ken and Stillingfleet, the Poet Flatman, Cooper
the famous Miniature Painter, Gilbert White — grand-
father of Gilbert White the Naturalist — Dr. Sprat, His-
torian of the Royal Society, Dr. Croone, Founder of the
Croonian Lectures, Bishop Morley, and — more famous
still — Izaak Walton. To Walton Woodforde dedicated
two poems in 1670. Professor Saintsbury refers to him
^ H.M.C , Ninth Report, App II, 493-9.

Introduction

m one of those erudite and delightful notes to his
Caroline Poets.^ ‘ Woodford . though much forgotten
now, must have been something more than an ordinary
person. As such he might have been, as he was, a
St. Paul’s boy and an Oxford (Wadham) man, a member
of the Inner Temple, an early F.R S , and, later, a Canon
of Chichester and Winchester. But as such merely he
would hardly have been, in the Preface to his Para-
phrases oj the Canticles, the first, and for a long time the
onl7, “ ingoing ” critic of Milton’s blank verse. He does
not take quite the right view of it, but it is noteworthy
that he should have taken any view of an intelligent
character.’

But more interesting and important than all this is the
fact that both he and his wife wrote Dianes which I hope,
in due course, to have an opportunity of editing.®

Samuel’s son was Heighes Woodforde (1664-1724),
Rector of Epsom and Canon of Chichester, and his son
was Samuel Woodforde (1695-1771), Rector of Ansford
and Vicar of Castle Cary in Somerset, whose second son
was James, our Diarist. Of James’s father we shall hear
something in the Diary , he was a good country parson
as his father was before him.

It pleases me to think that the Diarist’s ancestors were
not only, in the best sense, respectable, but learned and
good men, and that he clearly owed much to them.
I confess to an old-fashioned belief in the profound
importance of great-grandfathers ; but not in any
snobbish sense. Whether a man’s great-grandfathers
were Dukes or Dustmen is a matter of relatively minor
interest ; the interest consists in finding out what manner

^ Vol HI, p 306. There is a notice of this Woodforde in the Z) iV 5

® An extract from Samuel’s diary appears in my Gosstp of the Seven-
teenth ani Eighteenth Centuries, pp 55“^ Cobden-Sanderson, 1923)

2

Introduction

of men the great-grandfathers were, and to what extent
their qualities have re-emerged in their descendants.
I do not understand a certain modern school of thought
which steadfastly ignores the past and, with child-like
simplicity, believes it can instantly create something
in art, literature, or politics which shall be completely
new. It is an impossible theory, for the plain fact is
that we cannot escape from the past, and progress consists
but in a slow and gradual engrafting. Moreover, a dis-
regard of great-grandfathers is pecuharly inopportune
in an age when Science has demonstrated, even in Sweet
Peas, the immense importance of pedigree.

But apart from these considerations, the fact that
the Diarist’s ancestors were what they were is of interest
from an historical standpoint. In the famous third
chapter of his History of England, Lord Macaulay has
given a brilliant but devastating description of the
condition of the Country Clergy during the latter part
of the seventeenth and earlier part of the eighteenth
centuries.^ The Country Rector was in general not
regarded as, and indeed was not, a gentleman ; ‘ often
it was only by toiling on his glebe, by feeding swine,
and by loading dungcarts, that he could obtain daily
bread ’ ; he was lU-informed, and grossly prejudiced,
and he was a passionate supporter of the Tories. The
great Historian contrasts with the Country Clergy
the eminent Divines to be found ‘ at the Universities,
at the great Cathedrals, or in the Capital ’. He gives
a list of the men who flourished there towards the end
of the seventeenth century ; and an exceedingly imposing
list it is, not the least eminent name being that of Bishop

^ Although he concentrates on the latter part of the seventeenth
century, Macaulay, with a characteristic sweep of the pen, starts with the
Reformation and runs into the reign of George II.

3 B 2

Introduction

Burnet, who is generally acknowledged, by those who have
studied his works and his life, to have been a very great
man, a very excellent Bishop, and a very good Whig.

It would be not only impertinent but idle to suggest
that much that Lord Macaulay says of the Country Clergy
IS not true. Lecky, while admittmg that ‘ Macaulay
greatly understated the number of men of good family
that entered the Church, and [that] his picture is,
perhaps, in other respects a little over-colouied’, endorses
‘ its substantial accuracy On the other hand, those
who have made a special study of ecclesiastical historj'
in this period present a less gloomy picture, and
suggest that ‘ the wholesale censure of the whole body
of the parochial clergy in the early part of the
eighteenth century has been far too sweeping and
severe ’.® The first and most formidable assailant of the
Macaulay view of the Country Clergy was Churchill
Babington in his brilliant Mr. Macaulay's Character of
the Clergy in the latter fart of the Seventeenth Century
considered, which was published in 1849. One of
Macaulay’s and Lecky’s * main authorities is Dr. John
Eachard,who in 1670 wrote an anonymous pamphlet on
the grounds and occasions of the contempt of the Clergy
A careful reading of Eachard’s witty work makes it plain
that he did not intend every word he said to be taken

^ Lecky’s England in the Eighteenth Century^ vol i, p 97 (foot-note)

^ The English Church in the Eighteenth Century^ by J C Abbey and
J H Overton, 2 vols , 1878 , vol 11, p 66 See also Hore’s The Church
in England from William III to Victoria^ 1886, vol 1, p 299, and J W
Legg, English Church Life from the Restoration to the Tractarian Move-
ment^ 1914

® Lecbjfs view, as already indicated, is more moderate than Mac-
aulay’s nevertheless, though he had benefited by Churchill Babmgion’s
book, xt does not seem to me that he quite adequately appreciated
Churchill Babmgton’s scholarly and brilliant criticism

4

Introduction

hterallj ; his wit is of the Bernard Shaw type, only more
amusing and less perverse. Nevertheless Macaulay accepts
him implicitly. In a later pamphlet Eachard admits that
the state of the Clergy ‘ does daily considerably improve ’ ;
all he wanted to do was to hasten the process by fruitful
criticism, which he made exceedingly humorous.

In short, one is left -with an impression that, however
true a considerable part of the Macaulay picture may be,
it is not the whole picture. There is nothing to suggest
that a great number, if not the greater number, of
the Country Clergy had been educated at Oxford or
Cambridge. In connexion ivith the latter University
that wonderful work by J and J A. Venn, Alumm
Cantabngienses, now being issued by the Cambridge
University Press, will, in itself, afford a fair corrective
of the Macaulay description. Nor would one have sup-
posed that at least eleven of the twenty-two eminent
Divines named by Macaulay were at one period of their
careers simple Country Parsons,^ or that men of genius
like Robert Herrick and Thomas Traherne spent their lives
and died in their Country Parishes, both as it happens in
the same year 1674, this is three years before the death
of Barrow at Cambridge, with whose name Macaulay
begins his list. Certainly, in the years immediately
following, the Woodforde family, with its honourable
clerical record, repeated through four successive genera-
tions,® can be cited as a witness, as can the Wesley family,
and there are numerous others,® that the light of the
Anglican Church in the villages was not universally low.

^ Beveridge, Burnet, Collier, Fowler, Patrick, Pearson, Pococke,
South, StiUingfleet, Tenison, and TiUotson See D N B

® Samuel Woodforde, D D , &c , was a Country Parson pwor to pro-
motion

® As, for instance, the Burton parsons of the parish of Sutton Montis,
Somerset, to whom see a reference hereafter, p 112

5

Introductiok

Of the Diarist himself and his Diary it is necessary
to say little : they will speak for themselves. But this
much may be said. The key-note of the Diarist’s life and
character was and is tranquillity. Unlike Pepys he does
not move in the great world, and again unlike Pepys he
is_^ not minutely interested in himself With Pepys it
is difficult to say which mood is the most entrancing,
the mood in which he is absorbed in himself, or the mood
in which he throws himself completely into the scenes
of which he is a mere spectator. The Reverend James
Woodforde holds a middle course. He is not uninterested
in himself, and he is clearly interested in all the external
affairs which touched his quiet life Though he is not a
man of grand passions or brilliant qualities, his personality
is such that the whole Diary is stpeped m a unique
atmosphere. As you read his daily record, continuously
kept for forty-three years, you realize that he is that
very rare and beautiful bird — a typical Englishman. For
the typical Englishman, in fact, is not every other man
who passes in the street, but the man in whom are gathered
together those various qualities which compose the
national character , and this man is a rare man. The
Reverend James Woodforde loved his father and his
family and his home with a completely contented love ,
he loved good food and good drink ; he loved sport,
specially coursing hares and fishing j he loved a country
life ; he loved established institutions — therefore he
will be found, on the one hand, reverently keeping
the rehgious anniversary of the ‘martyrdom’ of King
Charles I, on January 30th of each year, and, on the other,
on the side of hberty and against King George III in
the Wilkes controversy ; in short, he believed in Parlia-
mentary government and in the Revolution of 1688,
and is not a high Tory , he liked Lords but he is no snob ;

6

Introduction

he liked women but not in the amorous way , he has
one love affair, and the girl failing him, he remains a
bachelor to his dying day; he is most friendly to his
fellow men, without distinction of class, and he is merciful
to all animals ; finally, in religion, he loved the quiet
way, that ‘ mean between the two extremes ’ which
Bishop Saunderson explains in his beautiful preface to
the Book of Common Prayer.

Reading the Diary of the Reverend James Woodforde
is like embarking on a long voyage down a very tranquil
stream. There is no grand or exciting scenery; there
are no rapids, nor is there any ultimate expectation of
the sea. But there are green fields on either side, and
trees, and a very pleasant murmuring of water, there
IS the harmony which comes only from controlled move-
ment, and there is peace.

From the historical standpoint, the Diary is of the
greatest possible interest as presenting a complete view
of English village life in the second half of the eighteenth
century. It answers for that period the question which,
I must confess, is to me the most interesting question
in history — ^how did plain people actually live their daily
lives in the ancestral centuries. It answers the question
mainly for village and country life, but there are also
intimate views of University life, and hfe at Bath, Nor-
wich, and elsewhere.

This picture of village life as it was a hundred and fifty
years ago is all the more interesting because village life
was then the normal life. Mr. George Trevelyan empha-
sizes this in one of his latest and most excellent books :

‘ In the life of our day, the characteristic umt is the town,
the factory or the trade umon. Then it was the country
village. Village life embraced the chief daily concerns
of the majority of Enghshmen. It was the principal

7

Introduction

nursery of the national character. The village was not
then a moribund society, as in the nineteenth century ;
nor was it, as in our day, a society hoping to revive by
the backwash of life returning to it from the town. It
contained no inspected school, imparting a town-made
view of life to successive generations of young rustics,
preparing for migration to other scenes. City civilization,
with Its newspapers and magazines, had not supplanted
provincial speech and village tradition.’ ^

Although we are concerned with a period separated
from us by only five or six generations — our great-
grandfathers, or our great-great-grandfathers, are in
possession of the stage — ^it is necessary constantly to
remember the prodigious difference in the setting of
the whole scene. The following is a bird’s-eye view,
taken at random during almost any part of the period
1750-1800.

England is governed by the Aristocracy and the King.
The Rotten Boroughs return members at their bidding.
Only the County Members are rather more fiec, and
even their return is largely dependent on the support
of the great lords , moreover, in any case, the county
franchise is limited to forty shillings a year freeholders.
The Prime Minister is the actual nominee of the King,
not of the Party. Only members of the Anglican Church
are legally eligible for national or municipal office, or
for admittance to the universities; a certain number
of Dissenters, however, manage to scrape in through the
loophole of occasional conformity or the Indemnity Acts
The criminal law is immensely rigorous, and thefts of the
value of 401. or over are punished by death. There are 160
capital offences. Small-pox carries off the thirteenth or

^ Bntuh History m the Nineteenth Century, 1782-1901, by G. M.
Trevelyan (1922), chap. i.

8

Introduction

fourteenth part of each generation.^ The Slave Trade is
regarded as a legitimate commercial enterprise, and slavery
itself as a respectable institution. The Society for the
Propagation of the Gospel owns slaves in Barbadoes, and
Whitefield has slaves in Georgia.® Men are ‘ impressed ’
when necessary for the navy, and, by a variety of means,
not seldom forced into the army.® France is regarded
as the age-long enemy of England. Though the Jacobites
cease, after the suppression of the dangerous outbreak
of 1745-6, to be a serious political menace, the Catholics
are hated or feared by the people, and subject to outbursts
of mob violence, as in the Gordon Riots in 1780. The
theory of Free Trade is but just born, and high Protec-
tion — ^with the consequent smuggling — is practised uni-
versally. ‘ If ’, says Lecky, ‘ the Wealth of Nations had
been published a century earlier [it appeared in 1776]
and if Its principles had passed into legislation, it is quite
possible that the separation of England and her [American]
colonies might have been indefinitely adjourned.’ ^
There is no system of pubhc health or public education.

^ Bernouilh’s calculation Final Report of Royal Qiininission on
Vaccination, p 13, 1896.

® The slave trade was not abolished till 1807, and slavery itself survived
till 1833-4 The anti-slavery agitation began in the second half of the
eighteenth century, the Quakers, the Evangdicals, and the Poets being
the pioneers of the movement

® See in Lord Fitzmaurice’s Lije of Shettvrne, vol 1, p 417, some
interesting correspondence between Chatham and Shelburne on the
subject of the Press Warrants issued in the City in 1770-I Also for an
instance of impressing a soldier, H M C , xzth Re fort. Appendix,
Part III, p 70. Fortescue, speabng of the Seven Years War, says
‘ Speaking broadly, it may be asserted that during this war the ranks
were filled by compulsion far more than by attraction, and by com-
pulsion so ruthless that recruits would resort to self-mutilation to escape
service ’ {History of the Bntuh Army, vol 11, p 585)

* Lecky’s England tn the Eighteenth Century, vol iv, p 46, ed 1896

9

Introduction

In the civil service promotion depends on patronage,
and in the army on purchase. There are, of course, no
railroads, and the roads, such as they are, are controlled
by a net-work of turnpikes. Travelling is by horseback,
coach, or post-chaise The existence of highwaymen
adds a certain excitement to long journeys.^

This introduction to the Diary of the Reverend James
Woodforde may now cease. Henceforth the Diarist shall
tell his own story in the extracts from the Diary which
I have made. These have been made so as to present
a complete story of the principal events in his life, and
I have endeavoured to select passages which throw a par-
ticular light either on his own character, or the character
of his family and his neighbours, or on contemporary
events, or on the social life of the time.

Finally it will be well to remember the bare outline of
his life. He was born on June i6 (o.s ), 1740, at Ansford
in Somerset, of which village his father was Rector, and
also Vicar of the much larger village of Castle Cary He
was educated at Winchester College, as his father had
been before him. In 1758 he matriculated at Oxford,
became a scholar of New College in 1759, and subse-
quently a Fellow. His Oxford career ends in 1763,
when he is ordained. The years from 1763 to 1773
comprise the period of his Somerset Curacies. In 1773
he returns to Oxford, where he resides as a Fellow acting
also as a Proctor for most of the time In 1774
presented to the college living of Weston in Norfolk, and
after an interval of some eighteen months spent partly
at his old home and partly at Oxford, he takes up his resi-
dence, and there lives till his death on January ist, 1803.

^ ‘ In 1775 the guard of the Norwich stage was killed in Eppmg Forest,
after he himself had shot dead three highwaymen out of the seven that
assailed him to rob the mail ’ (Mason, History of Norfolk^ p. 453)

10

THE DIARY
PART I

OXFORD AND THE SOMERSET CURACIES,

1758-76

The Diary begins with some entries of account at
Oxford, dated October 1758. Here are a few purchases
of an eighteenth-century undergraduate.

Oct. 19.

A pair of Curhng Tongs

2.

8

Oct. 20

Two Logick Books

0.

6.

0

Oct. 25.

Two Bottles of Port Wine

0.

3-

4

Nov. 6.

A Sack of Coal

0.

4-

9

Nov. 7.

A Musick Book

0

I.

6

May 25.

A New Wigg

I

I.

0

June 16

Had of my Father

I

I

0

June 18.

Nosegays

0.

0.

I

Jiiiy 4-

Ester Oratorio

0

5-

0

Mrs

Messiah

0.

5-

0

July 6

2 White Waistcoats

I

16.

0

He also notes that he has a ‘ superfine blue suit of
cloathes, very good cloth ’ which cost los. and a
chocolate suit ‘ bad ’ which cost
The detailed Diary begins on July 21, 1759, with the
laconic entiy . ‘ Made a Scholar of New College In
August and September of this year he is at home at
Ansford. The early entries in the Diary are very short,
thus •

1759. Aug 28. We [his Papa and he] ^ lodged at the

^ Any words interpolated into the text of the Diary itself for explana-
tion are shown in square brackets [ ] , ordinary brackets ( ) are the
Diarist’s own.

II

1759

King’s Arms in Evershor, where we had exceeding
good Port Wine.

Sept. 5. I went to the Bear-baiting ^ in Ansford.

Sept. 16. One Mr. Russ of Shepton Mallett who
brought Miss Payne [a friend] came after her again,
but he being so very drunk, and very late, we would
not let her go.

On October ist, he sets out on horseback with his
father’s man for Oxford, the route being through
Deptford, Yearnbury Castle, Maddington, Netherhaven,
Everly (where he lodged that night at the Rose and
Crown, Everly is about fifty miles from Ansford,
a pretty long day’s stretch on horseback) ; then the next
day through Sharvord, Winteibuin, Hungerford, New-
town, Shapwick, Farnborough, Abbey Milton, Abbing-
ton, to Oxford, which they reached on the evening of
October and
The Diary continues .

1759. Oct. 6 Geree, Peckham and myself had a hogs-
head of Port from Mr Cropp of Southampton.

Oct. 8. Had of Mr Prince the Bookseller in New
College Lane, a standish with sand. Ink, Wafers, and
half a Hundred of Pens

Oct. 14. Mr. Turner Junr of this College died this
afternoon about 3 o’clock in a deep consumption.
[He IS buried Oct. 17th at 10 o’clock at night in the
Cloisters ‘ in a very plain and decent manner.’]

Oct. 18 Very great rejoycmgs this night on the tabng
of Quebec.

^ A Bill ‘ against Bear-baiting and other cruel Practices ’ was defeated
in the House of Commons by 50 votes to 32 as late as Qi M C ,
Tmlftb Report, Appendix, Part III, p 7)

12

1759

Oct. 30. Went with Masters a shooting to Stanton
Woods.

Nov. 10. John Atwell brought me up a Bed, 3 Blanketts,
a Quilt, Bolster and Pillow, and a letter from my
Sister Jenny, together wth a Hare which Esq.
Newman sent me up, which I think is very kind
Had another bottle of Hadley’s Wine

Nov. 1 6 Gave away my snuff-box to a Particular Friend.

Nov. 29. ... Mr, Messiter, Mr Philip Hays, and Mr.
Holton of Mag Coll, spent the evening with me, and
sat up till 2 o’clock in the morning. . . . Had 6 bottles
of my wine.

Dec. 3. I first began on the Spinnet, Mr. Philip Hays,
my Tutor.

Dec. 8. . . Had a Half-Crown Bowl of Punch from
Kennerslys. I laid in Mr. NicoUs rooms with Mr.
Hearst, who turned me out of Bed, and locked me
out of the room naked.

Dec. 10. I went with Mr Bertie, Gen. Comm. [Gentle-
man Commoner] of this House, to see the man ride
upon three Horses.

Dec. 22. My great Aunt Ann Woodforde died of the
small-pox at Bicester this morning.

Dec 25. I received the Sacrament being Xmas Day
The Warden dined in Hall with us. The Bursars
give us Scholars 8 Bottles of Port Wine to drink at
dinner time They likewise give us a qutr of a
Cifeshire Cheese. We have 2 large Grace Cups
between courses. We have rabbits for supper, i Rabbit
between three at the expense of the Domus. Sent
a letter to my Father.

1760. Jan 21. Went and heard Doctor Blackstone's ^
Lecture on the Crown being Hereditary.

^ See pp. 141-2, foot-note

13

1760

Jan. 30. Mr. Pye the Subwarden set me Part of the
1st Lesson for this morning service to translate into
Sapphic Metre, for not being at Prayers this morning.

Mar. 3. Gave my imposition to Mr Pye, upon David’s
Lamentation over Saul and Jonathan made by NicoUs
in Sapphic Metre Had a Bottle of my Wine

Mar. 22 Breakfasted at Tahourdin’s Dined at the
Cross Inn with Mr. Ben. Bathurst, Ensign of the first
Regiment of Foot Guards, who is come out to recruit.
. . . N.B. We had Clarett, Madeira and Port to
drink.

Ap. 29. Went and play’d Crikett, being the first time
of our Clubb’s playing N B we play’d in Port
Meadow.

May 14. Plaid at Crikett in Port Meadow, the Win-
chester against the Eaton, and we Winton: beat
them.

May 20. Hooke, Boteler and myself went to Welch’s
of Wadham College, where we designed to sup and
spend the evening, but our entertainment was thus,
one Lobster of a Pound, a half-pennyworth of Bread,
and the same of Cheese, half of an Old Bottle of Ale,
Half a Bottle of Wine, and a Bottle of Lisbon, and
then we were desired to retreat, which was immediately
obeyed. . . . N.B. A Wadamite.

June 20. I declaimed in Chapel upon — An sapiens
mutet sententiam . . affirmatur.^

On July 18, he leaves Oxford to spend the long vaca-
tion at home, travellmg on horseback. Nothing notable
happens during the vacation — ^much visiting of cousins,

^ For an account of the Oxford curriculum in the eighteenth century,
see pp 158-62 hereafter

H

1760

a little coursing of hares, and so on. Then, on October lo,
he sets out for Oxford, the journey on horseback taking
the usual two days. What with meals, the night’s
lodging, tips to hostlers and maids, and turnpikes, the
two days’ journey costs him ijs. <)d. for himseif and his
horse.

1760. Oct. 25, N.B. King George the 2nd died this
morning at nine o’clock, there being an Express j'ust
arrived from London here this evening at five o’clock.
Oct. 31. Went and saw King George the third pro-
claimed King of England m High Street.

Nov. I. Had a Suit of Mourmng for the King brought
home this very night.

Nov. 7. I declaimed in Chapel upon — ^Utrum immensas
opes possidere alicujus periculo, vel securitati magis
fere conducat. . . Periculo.

This term he becomes acquainted with two Oxford
girls, Nancy Bignell and her sister Betsy, with whom he
takes numerous walks. The friendship appears to have
been extremely innocent , he gives Nancy six white
handkerchiefs to make for him, and later gives her and
her sister Betsy each a silver thimble.

1761 Jan. 2. For Ale in a House in Holinwell, where
I took some verses from a Man, made upon Nancy
Bignell and myself, pd. o. o. 4^. At cards with Brewer,
Peckham and Williams, lost, o. 5. 6.

Jan. 7. Peckham, Loggin and Webber went with me to
Halse’s the Sadler, where I threshed his apprentice
Crozier for making verses on me.

Jan. 25. We went into second mourning for. his late
Majesty, King George the second. Drank tea this
afternoon at Tahourdin’s with George Weller.

15

1761

Feb. 2. . . . Went and saw Dumas alias Darking, a famous
Highwayman, in the Castle. Gave a girl there, in
for stealing a Shift o. o. 2d.

Feb. 13. A Publick Fast for our Fleets and Armies . . .

Mar. 6. Went up into the Hall this afternoon after the
Judge was in, and I could not get a tolerable Place
some time, but at last I jumped from two men’s
shoulders and leaped upon the Heads of several men
and then scrambled into the Pnsoneis Place where
the Judge said I must not stay, so one of the Coun-
sellors [i e. Barristers] desired me not to make a noise,
and he would let me have his Place, which was im-
mediately under the Prisoners and opposite the Judge,
where I sat and heard three or four tryalls, and likewise
condemnation passed on Dumas, alias Darking, alias
Hamilton, alias Harris. Was up there from, 5 till 9,
and then the Judge had finished everything i con-
demned to die, 4 transported for seven rears, i burnt
m the hand and acquitted.

Mar II. . . . Baker andCrouchei both of Merton Coll:
spent their evening in the B C.R. [Bachelors’ Common
Room]. Croucher was devilish drunk indeed, and
made great noise there, but we carried him away to
Peckham’s Bed in Triumph. Baker laid with me.

Mar. 22. Being Easter Day received this morning the
Holy Sacrament . . . took a walk this evening with
Nancy Bignell.

Mar. 23. Mr. Darking alias Dumas etc , was hanged
this morning about a quarter before eight, and after
he was cut down he was carried by the Bargemen to
St. Thomas Church to be buried. All the College gates
was .shut from ten o’clock last night till nine this
morning by an Order of the Vice-Chancellor and
Procters,

16

1761

June 14. ... Hearst, Bell and myself, being in Beer,
went under Whitmore’s window, and abused him
very much, as being Dean, he came down, and sent
us to our Proper Rooms, and then we Huzza’d him
again and again. We are to wait on him to-morrow.

June 15. We waited on Whitmore this morning and he
read to us a Statute or two and says he shall not
mention again provided the Senr. People do not.
I am to read the three first Books of Hutchinson’s
Moral Philosophy, and I am to give a summary
account of them when I am examined for my De-
gree. . . .

On July 21st, 1761, he is made a Fellow of New College,
and treats the Bachelors’ Common Room ‘ all the evening
with Wine and Punch ’. The quantity of drink con-
sumed by the eighteenth-century undergraduate appears
to have been very considerable. The entries ‘ Had
a bottle of my Wine ’ are frequent. On July 26th he
notes that out of a half-hogshead of port ‘I have 12
dozen and six bottles ’. On July 22nd, he makes an
expedition to London with three other friends. They go
by stage coach — ‘ in Bews Machine ’ — starting at five
o’clock in the morning, and arriving about tea-time at
Hyde Park Corner. They go down the river and sup
at Vauxhall — that centre of eighteenth-century gaiety
which readers of ‘Tom Jones, to say nothing of Vanity
Fair, will remember. Next day they see the Duke of
Cumberland, who finally smashed the Jacobite cause at
CuUoden in 1746, ‘ ride in his coach and six through ye
Park ’ ; ^ they continue the countryman’s usual London

^ The Duke was a remarkable man Horace Walpole ranked him as
one of the five great men he had known — the other four being Sir Robert
Walpole, Granville, Mansfield, and Pitt, See Fortescue’s History of the

17 C

1761

round — Westminster Abbey, the Tower, &c., and see
a play. All in the Wrong, at the Theatre Royal, Drury
Lane, in the evemng. Next day they return to Oxford.
On August 26th (1761) he is back at Ansford.

1761. Aug 26. ... I gave Jenny 3 yards of Riband
I gave an Ivoiy Thimble to her. I gave her some
Court Plaister ; dined, supp’d and laid at Home
Septem. 5. Had a Letter from young Tom Rooke, from
London for which I paid o. o. jd. For reading the
news at Ansford Inn 0 o. 'jd. . . .

Septem. 27. ... George Snooke, my Tenant at Sanforde,
brought me over a fine large Hare
Septem. 28. I paid Mr. Willmott for a Spinnett
3 o. which Mama gave me. _

Oct. 3. I changed my Paper Snuff Box with Miss
Nancy Rooke for one of hers by way of a Remem-
brance of her

On October 6th he sets out for Oxford.

Octob. 17. ... I gave some verses on the King’s

Marriage for Dean Whitmore. For Oysters this
evening pd o. o. zd. I have been extremely well all
day. I was at five o’clock Prayers this afternoon,
where one Jones, a Famous Methodist was
Nov. 4. ... Dyer laid Williams zs. 6 d that he drank
3 Pints of Wine in 3 Hours, and that he wrote 5 verses
out of the Bible right, but h^ lost. He did it in the
B C.R., he drank all the Wine, but could not write

British Army, vol 11, p S 7 S “7 John Wesley ‘ was agreeably surprised
to find many of the books [in the Duke’s study] not only religious, but
admirably well chosen Perhaps the great man spent many hours here,
with only Him that seeth in secret ’ (Wesley's Journal, November 29,
1771).

18

1761

right for his Life. He was immensely drunk about
5 Minutes afterwards.

Nov. 19. ... Went this evening to Haw’s (a famous
Methodist) Lecture in St Giles’s Church . . . very
stupid, low and bad stuff.

Nov. 27. ... I declaimed this morning in Chapel with
Reynell, upon — ^An omnes artes habeant inter se
quoddam commune vinculum ? I had Affirmatur.

1761. Decern. 18. I was dunn’d this morning for half
a Hogshead of Port, by Cropp’s Agent, Howard,
call’d Lord Howard. It was not in my Power to
pay it at present.

1762. March 5. Judge WiUmott condemned one
Shadrach Smith, a gypsy, for robbing a girl of 2 shil-
lings and beating her in a very cruel manner ; this
man’s son was the most principal Witness against
his Father, and he it was that had him hanged, or
condemned to be hanged, he insisted upon his son’s
witnessing against, though the Judge was much
against it.

Between April and June of this year (1762) he is in

the country, and the following entries are made at

Ansford :

Ap. 20. I began the Epistles of the G[reek] Testament
to learn and read for Orders. Gave a Poor Man . . .
o. o. 2.

Ap. 24. I made a Contract with Mr. Owens to shave
me and dress 2 Wiggs each time, twice a week, not
reckomng my being from Home, at three shillings
per Quarter per annum o 12. o. . . .

June 12. I have been studying in my tent [He had put
one up in the garden] all the day long the G. Testa-

19 c 2

1762

ment. Sister Jenny and myself were invited this
evening to Mr. White’s Sheep-sheering, but we could
not go being Saturday night, which is a very improper
time to spend the evening out anywhere.

June 15. Went this morning early to Berkeley, where
old Mrs Prowse lives, about two miles beyond Froom,
and about sixteen miles from hence . I carried over
with me three Mourning Rings that my Father gave
me last night ; to deliver one to old Mrs. Prowse,
one to her son the Major, and one to ye Major’s wife,
in Remembrance of my late Uncle, the Treasurer,
which were left them by a Particular Desire of my late
Uncle the Treasurer [his Great Uncle Robert Wood-
forde, 1675-1762, for many years a country parson in
Cornwall andSomerset,and latei Canon and Treasurer
of Wells ] . . N.B. Old Mrs. Prowse of Berkeley,
and my late Uncle the Treasurer, were very Intimate,
and corresponded, when my good Uncle was living.
Major Prowse is son to old Mrs. Prowse.

June 28. Went upon the grey horse this morning for
Oxford by myself.

The stay at Oxford was short, and on July 20 he is back
at Ansford Parsonage again • the journey from Oxford on
horseback cost exactly ^i, it would not have cost quite as
much had he not ‘ treated ’ some friends at ‘ the Bear in
Dropping Lane ’, the last stage before he reached home.

July 28 Went with Papa and Jenny to Mr. William

Melliar’s this morning, where we dined with a number
of other friends upon half a Buck. . . We had a
Minuet or two this afternoon by Holton, Couns[ellor]
Melliar, Will: Melliar, and myself. . . .

July 29. . , Papa had a letter from Cousin James

20

1762

Lewis at Nottingham, wherein he informs that he
keeps a little school at Nottingham, and hkewise that
he is in great want of money. He was a Private
Soldier m the Army, and being wounded in the leg
rendered him unserviceable, and therefore has a
Pension of five Pounds per Annum from the Govern-
ment • he has been rather wild in his time, which
wildness has brought him to this.

August I. ... Went this afternoon to Cary Church
where Jerry Holton read prayers and preached for
Mr Penny. Holton preached concerning Private
Interest giving way to Pubhck Good in regard to
our having an Water Engine to prevent Fire spread-
ing .. .

Aug. 2. . . Archdeacon Potter of Wells, and Brother-in-

Law to Daniel Prince my bookseller in Oxford, called
here this afternoon, but Papa was gone down to the
Lower House, and Mama was walking m the Garden,
and Jenny was gone to Castle Cary, and I was up in
my room reading, so he did not stay long here.

Aug. 7. . . Papa gave me a manuscript of Arch-Bishop
Laud’s, concerning the Old and New Testaments,
being some of his own Remarks concerning them.^

Aug. 12. ... Went with Mr. Clarke over to Ansford
Inn to read the News, where I pd o. o. 4-J- . . There

was a wedding dinner at Ansford Inn to-day, for some
Shepton Mallett People. The Bride and Bridegroom’s
names are these, the Bride was Miss Aimes, the

^ Laud’s Complete Works, in seven volumes, have been published in
the Anglo-Catholic Library edition, but I do not find therein anything
corresponding to the Diarist’s reference here My friend, Dr. Woodforde,
owner of the manuscript of the Diary and of numerous other manuscripts
of the Diarist’s, has no manuscript of Archbishop Laud’s. Possibly this
reference will supply a due which may lead to a very interesting dis-
covery, assuming the manuscript has not been destroyed.

21

1762

Brideg. Cary. The whole set all are rank Presby-
terians.

Aug. 26. ... We drank tea this afternoon at Mrs.
Chiche’s with . . . [and] Mr. Whithead of Bristol,
a man of gieat Fortune, near 15000^.^ . . .

On August 30 he rides ovei to Bristol to see his brother
John, who IS apprenticed there. Next day they ‘ took
a ride down to King-Road, Sea-Mills and saw the T>ger
that Captain Reed took lately, we saw the Captain. We
went a board the Tyger, and the King George, and I pd
o. I, o.’

Between September 13 and 19 he is at Winchester
with his uncle Tom and cousin Frank, who is up foi
election as a Scholar . they see him safely settled theie
and return on September 19.

Sep. 28 ... Painter Clarke gave me a ticket to go to

Miss Chich’s Play (the Beggars Opera) this evening
at Bruton, at her House and accordingly I went this
evening to Miss Chich’s at Bruton, and saw the Play
acted and it was done pretty well. Lady Ilchester,
and her daughter ,Fanny a little girl, were there.
Their house was quite full. . . .

Oct. 3. ... We had news to-day of the Havannah, the
Principal Port in the Island of Cuba in the West
Indies, being taken by the English.®

Oct. 9. ... I packed up my things for Oxford, this

See pp 71-3 for some remarks on the value of money, and prices at
this time.

^ Havanna was captured from the Spaniards on August lo, 1762
(towards the dose of the Seven Years War), the British troops suffering
fearful losses both during and after the siege from sickness : one brigade
of four battalions could not muster twenty men fit for duty. See For-
tescue’s Htstory oj the Btituh Atmy^ vol u, p 551-3.

22

1762

afternoon and they were these — 9 Shirts — 9 Stocks —
2 Cravats — 7 pr of Stocbngs, 2 White Handkerchiefs
— 5 Coloured Handkerchiefs — 2 Night Caps — i Towel
— 2 Pr of Breeches — besides the things that I wear,
w* are i Pr of Leather Breeches — i White Coat —
I Buff Waistcoat — i Great Coat.

Nov. 26. ... I began this very day to take upon me
the Stewardship of the College, viz: to see the Meat
of the College weighed every day in Kitchen for one
week and for which I receive of the Manciple at the
end of the week o. 6s. 6d. All Fellows of this College
above three years standing, and that here in College
are, take the Stewardship by turns every week from
Year’s end to Year’s end, and so on ad infinitum.
Had a du nnin g Letter from Robinson & Hartley for
the payment of ^£8. 15. o for half a Hogshead of old
Port, that I had from Southampton last year.

Dec. 24. ... I paid Mr. Pryer this morning our College
Steward, for Mr. Hartley & Robinson of Southampton
Wme Merchants, for half a Hogshead of Port Wine
^5* o* • • •

1763. Jan. 4. Went a skating this morning upon the
River Thames. . . .

[With an interval of a thaw from 7 th to loth he
skates on the Thames till January 27th, on]

Jan. 24. We skated down to Abington where we dined
and for our dinners there etc. each of us pd. 2s 6d.
We were going down about an hour and half ; N B.
We walked above 2 miles out of it. It is about 10
miles by water.

Jan. 8. Pd. Rice for mending my Gown and a little
np in my Coat o. i. o which is very exorbitant indeed
and for the future will have nothing ever done by
him any more in the World.

23

1763

Feb. 17 I dined at the Chaplain’s table with Pickering
and Waring, upon a roasted Tongue and Udder, and
we went on each of us for it o. i. 9* N.B. I shall
not dine on a roasted Tongue and Udder again very
soon.

Feb. 28. . Went with Dyer, Russell and Master

after dinner down to the Castle to see the Prisoners ;
where we drank two Bottles of Port and for Wine
etc., pd 0. 1 . 6. William Cartwright, a young, good-
looking Fellow, who IS in the Castle for a High Way
Robbery, drank with us the last Bottle, and smoaked
a Pipe with us, and seemed very soiry for what he
had committed. We ga\ e him between us o. 2. o. . . .

Mar. 29. ... Went and saw Peace proclaimed in High
Street at twelve o’clock.

This was the Peace of Pans, which concluded the Seven
Years War. The French gave up Canada to us and
abandoned all claims to India. We had become a great
Imperial Power.

May 2. Sale spoke to me this morning conceining the
Curacy of Newton-Purcell, Mhich I ha\e promised
him to take and serve the Sunday aftei Trmity
Sunday ; it is about 20 miles from Oxford ; and
I am to receive per annum for serving it, besides
Surplice fees ^28. o. o. I am only to serve it during
Mr. Sale’s Proctorship.

May 5. ... This is the Thanksgiving day for the late
Peace between France, Spain and England.

May II. ... I was offer’d this afternoon by Fitch of
Queen’s Coll a Curacy worth j^40 per annum, and
to be enterd upon at Michaelmas — It is in Somersett,
near Taunton, the name of the Place is Thurloxton,

24

1763

in ihe Gift of Fitch’s Father. I shall write to my
Father concerning it to-morrow morning, I have
got to the 20th of this month to consider of it.

May 23. ... I went this afternoon at five o’clock to
C.C.C. to Mr. Hewish the Bishop of Oxford’s Chap-
lain, before whom I was exammed for deacon’s
Orders, and I came of very well. I was set over in
the middle of the fifth Chapter of St. Paul to the
Romans and construed that Chapter quite to the
end. I was quite half an hour exammmg. He asked
a good many hard and deep questions. I had not
one question that Yes, or No, would answer. . . .
Mr. Hewish is a very fair Examiner, and will see
whether a Man be read or not soon. . . .

May 24. Breakfasted in my own Rooms again. Took
a ride this morning towards Elsfield and round by
Staunton upon the Grey. For half a pint of ale at
Boys Water pd. 0.0. i. Gave Jackson’s other man
for taking care of the Grey and saddle etc. o. 0. 6.
For fruit pd o. o. i . For wine on the green pd o. 2. o.
The reason of my paying so much was the Impudence
of two Gentlemanlike Persons (whose names were
Messrs. Mercer and Loyd) pushed themselves into
the Temple in our Garden while Hooke and myself
were drinking there, and drank two Bottles of Wine
with us Mercer’s wife and 2 more Ladies were with
us. Mercer (who wore a gold-laced Hat) was very
drunk and very abusive to us and Mr. Loyd : Loyd
is a Schoolmaster at Abington, and Mercer’s son went
to School to him. Mercer’s son was with us. Mercer
went away about ten o’clock this evemng, and made
a great noise going through College. Mr Mercer
behaved very much unlike a Gentleman. Loyd came
into the B.C.R. afterwards with Hooke and myself ,

25

1763

Mr. Loyd was drunk. Mercer broke two glasses in
the Temple for which Hooke and myself pd. o. i. o.
I went to bed at eleven and left Mr. Loyd in the
B.C.R. with Hooke and some more Gentlemen. . .

May 27. For an ounce of Green Tea pd o. o. 8. For
an ounce of Bohea Tea pd o o \d.

May 28. Went to Dr. Hunt’s of Christ Church, with
NichoUs, Geree and Fitters, and subsciibed to the
39 Articles before the Bishop. We paid Pope Beaver
for our Letters of Orders, which we receive Monday
next, in Doctor Hunt’s rooms , each ot us o. lo. o.
. . . Oglander Senr. gave a very handsome glaxed
Lanthorne for the use of the Bowlers to light their
Pipes with, this afternoon in the Temple in the
Green. . . .

May 29. At nine o’clock, this morning went to Christ
Church with Hooke, and Fitters, to be ordained
Deacon ; and was ordained Deacon there by Hume
Bishop of Oxford. There were 25 Ordained Deacons
and 13 Priests. We all received the Sacrament. . . .
We were in C. Church Cathedral from nine o’clock
this morning till after twelve. For wine this after-
noon in the B.C.R. pd o. o 6.

June I, I took my B.A. Degree this morning. . . .
Reynels, myself, Lucas, Peckham and Webbei treated
(as IS usual) the B.C.R after dinner with Wine, and
after Supper with Wine and Punch ail the evening.
We had 27 People in the B.C.R. this evening. . . .
I sat up m the B.C.R. this evening till after twelve
o’clock, and then went to bed, and at three in the
morning, had my outward doors broken open, my
glass door broke, and pulled out of bed, and brought
into the B.C.R. where I was obliged to drink and
smoak, but not without a good many words. Peckham

26

1763

broke my doors, being very drank, although they were
open, which I do not relish of Peckham much.

June 2. Several of our Fellows went at four o’clock in
the mormng, for Stow, and all drunk; some in
a Phaeton, some in a Buggy, and some on Horse
back. I went as far as Weston on the Green with
them upon my Grey, and then returned home, and
was home by nine o’clock this morning, and break-
fasted in my room.

June 4. Dined in Hall , and after dinner went with
Cotton to Newton-Pur cell, my Curacy, and which
I am to serve to-morrow. Supp’d and spent the
evening, at Cotton’s Mother’s, with Cotton and his
Brother, and his Mother and his four Sisters. Cotton’s
Sisters are very agreeable Ladies. Laid at Cotton’s
Mother’s at Newton-Purcell. Cotton’s Mother’s
House and Furniture is rather bad ; they are gomg
out of the House soon.

June 5. Breakfasted at Cotton’s Mother’s, wath Cotton
and his Brother and his four Sisters. At eleven
o’clock went to my Church, and read Prayers and
preached my first Sermon. Cotton’s Family and
about twenty more People were all that were at
Church. Did Duty again at two o’clock ; and then
dined at Cotton’s Mother’s with Mrs. Cotton, and
her four Daughters, and her youngest son; the
eldest son was out preaching and reading prayers.
Set out this afternoon for Oxford, and got home
about eight o’clock. . . . Gave Cotton’s maid bemg
the only Servant o. i. o,

June 6. Had a Letter from Fitch, with a Promise from
his Father of my taking the Curacy of his at Thur-
loxton near Taunton.

June 25 th. . . . Oglander Junr. and myself tryed this

27

1763

evening some of our Strong Beer in the BCR. and
it is pretty good, but I am afraid it will never be
better. It is some of Whitmore’s brewing when he
was Bursar. . . .

June 29. ... For a Pocket Pistol alias a dram bottle
to carry in one’s pocket, it being necessary on a
Journey or so, at Nicholl’s pd o. i. o.

July 3. Went this morning to Ardington by Wantage
in Berks for Mr. Sheffield, who desired me to change
Churches with him for this Sunday, it is about
twelve miles of Oxford : I preached and read Praj-ers
there m the morning and Churched a woman ; and
read Prayers there in the afternoon. Coming out
of Church in the morning a woman that I had
Churched gave me in the middle of the Church
o. o. 6. which I received and pocketed. I dined at
the Squire’s whose name was Clarke, who behaved
extreamly civil and genteel indeed. Foi going thro’
three Turnpikes this morning between Oxford and
Ardington pd. o. o. 5.

. . . My horse fell down on a Trot as I was going,
and threw me over his head but (I thank God
Almighty) I received no hurt. . .

July 16. ... For throwing some Wine last night in
Bedford’s face in the B.C.R. I was sconced a Bottle
of Wine, which I pd this evening to the B.C.R.

July 26. Paid Baggs at the Coff. House (a very impudent
Fellow) a little Bill of o. 6. 7. N.B. I do not intend
dealing with him again very soon for his Impudence
to me yesterday morning.

Aug, 3. Spent the evening at Rice’s, my quondam
Taylor, with himself and wife, in High Street. They
had provided a handsome supper for me (viz) a neck
of Lamb and tarts, but I had supp’d at College.

28

1763

I smoaked a Pipe with Mr. Rice, and finished a Bottle
of Wine between us, and his Wife, and then I de-
parted. . . .

Aug. 17. Dined in Hall at the High Table upon a neck
of Venison and a Breast made into Pasty, a Ham and
Fowls and two Pies. It is a Venison Feast which we
have once a year about this time ... 2 Bucks one
•year, and i Buck another year is always sent from
Whaddon Chase and divided between the Wardens,
the Senr Fellows, and us. For an ounce of Indian
Bark to put into my Pipe when smoaking pd. o. o. 6 L
It gives the tobacco a pretty smell and taste.

Aug. 21. Went to Chesterton again this morning and
did the Duty of the day there. Dined at Mr. Pryor’s
again, and with him, his brother the Lawyer, his
Sister and Niece and Mr. and Mrs. Weaver, Miss
Goff, Mr. Payne a Baker at Brackley, an everlasting
Spunger, but a droll Fellow, and Mr. Banks of our
College. . . .

The reference to the presence of a baker at this highly
respectable tea party — ^we take it Mr. Pryor himself was
a person of some social standing, he was certainly an
educated man, for he had been at Winchester College
■with the Diarist’s father — ^is a little surprising to modern
notions. As we shall come across other instances later
on of a similar mingling of classes, it may be well to
consider the matter.

Until the time of the Industrial Revolution, towards
the end of the eighteenth century, English society was
essentially feudal It is true that the feudal framework
in its political and economic aspects had almost wholly
disappeared. But the social conception, the conception
of mankind as arranged in completely separate classes,

29

1763

remaiaed. So rooted and universal was the class con-
ception, that any other notion seemed merely repulsive.
There had been spasmodic stirrings of a new spirit in
the Middle Ages and later, the Peasants’ Revolt, for
instance, and more obviously during the Cromwellian
period. But these stirrings were followed by a return
to the old tranquillity. Chaucer’s Canterbury Pilgrims
nde happily down the road in complete inequality and
in complete harmony. For it is not the existence of
class, but the consciousness of its existence, which creates
that most insidious social disease — snobbery. And snob-
bery IS relatively a modern disease, though there are
earlier instances of it, of which the following is one.
The Duchess of Buckingham is writing to the Countess
of Huntingdon, the friend of Whitefield and founder of
the famous ‘ Connection ’ : ‘I thank your ladyship for
the information concerning the Methodist preachers.
Their doctrines are most repulsive, and strongly tinctured
with impertinence and disrespect towards their superiors,
in perpetually endeavouring to level all ranks and do
away -with all distinctions. It is monstrous to be told
that you have a heart as sinful as the common wretches
that crawl on the earth. This is highly offensive and
insulting, and I cannot but wonder that your ladyship
should relish any sentiments so much at variance with
high rank and good breeding.’ ^ The disease is develop-
ing very fast in Jane Austen’s day, assumes fearful
proportions in the Victorian era, and shows but
superficial signs of abatement in these last Georgian
days. ‘ The political spirit of the eighteenth century
was based not on the equality but on the harmony
of classes.’ So says Mr. George Trevelyan, and the

^ Quoted m The Church of England tn the Etghuenth Century, p 124,
hj Alfred Plummer, D.D. (1909).

30

1763

statement applies, with even greater force, to the social
spirit.

Therefore, although, most unfortunatel7, the majority
of the nominal gentry do not ask their baker to tea to-
day, or entertain the neighbouring farmer to supper, or
dine with their tailor, we must not be surprised if that
wholly admirable custom prevailed in the days of the
Diarist. It IS, indeed, a remarkable paradox that the
unquestioned acceptance of inequality should lead to
fraternity.

We return to the Diary.

Septem. 3. Went this morning to Draton (two little
miles beyond Abingdon) and talked with Mrs. Bacon
about serving that Church to-morrow. She says that
she -will give me half a guinea, a dinner, and stabling
for my horse, therefore I promised her that I would
serve it to-morrow and the next Sunday. Mrs.
Bacon behaved very handsome to me ; she has
a school of twenty-two young Ladies. After drinking
a glass of Mountain and eating a bit of crust of bread,
I returned to Oxford, and dmed at New Coll, in ye
Hall Mrs. Bacon pressed me to dine with her, but
I had ordered in Hall, and I cotild not. . . . Besides
our Common Dinner we had a brace of birds called
Graus, that came from Wilhams Junr. out of Wales,
as a present to Webber for reading for him during
his absence in Chapel.

Septem. 7. ... Had three bottles of Wine out of my
room in ye B C.R. this afternoon and Waring had
another, out of his room Waring was very drunk
and Bedford was but little better. N.B. I was very
sober, as I had made a resolution never to get drunk

31

1763

again, when at Geree’s rooms in April last, when
I fell down dead, and cut my Occiput ^ very bad
indeed.

On September I2th he leaves Oxford, having com-
pleted his course. He spends the rest of the month
quietly at home with one or two excursions to Sherborne
and Bristol. He preaches for his father now and again
at Ansford, does a little shooting, training a new dog
given him by his tenant’s brother, whose name is Snooke,
and with his family visits ‘ Mr. Hoare, the Banker’s
gardens at Stourton ’. . . . ‘ The Temple of Hercules in
the gardens must cost Mr. Hoare 0,000, it is exces-
sively grand The grotto where the sleeping Nymph
laid struck me much more than anything there.’

He gives his sister, Jenny (October 1st) a present of
four hundred needles, four papers of pins, and two
steel-top thimbles which he had bought at Oxford for
her for 4^. 2d. On October 7th he sets out for Thur-
loxton, near Taunton, to take up his curacy ; he arrives
on the 8th, and after various vain attempts to find
lodgings, he goes to the squire of the parish, ‘ whose
name is Cross, and he took me at the very first word,
and likewise my Horse ’. He arranges to stop there on
these terms : ‘ that I should live as he does (which is
very well I am sure) that I should have my linnen washed
by him, and that he should keep my horse (corn excepted)
£21. o. o and that for every day that I was absent,
I should be allowed for each day o. i. if which per year
is £21.’ He notes that ‘ Mr. Cross has a noble house,
good enough for any Nobleman ’. Mr. Cross is married
and has three children and another is coming. He
spends his time partly at Thurloxton with the Cross’s

^ 1. e the back of his head.

32

1763

and partly at Ansford, riding to and fro. On October 27th
‘ a hare being found near here, Mr Cross and myself
went out and coursed it before breakfast and killed
it, with Mr. Cross’s dogs, and a good course it was.
Gave the man that found her o. o. 6 as is always cus-
tomary.’ He notes on November. 4th that he has to
return to Thurloxton from Ansford ‘ to-morrow being
the fifth of November, to read Prayers there ’. The
congregation was small. ‘ The Ringers desired me to
give them something to drink, it being customary, there-
fore I sent them, it being a custom, o. i. o.’

Nov. 6. Breakfasted, dined, supp’d and laid at Mr
Cross’s. Read Prayers and preached this morning at
my Church of Thurloxton, it being Sunday. I like-
wise read Prayers there this afternoon. After the
afternoon service, I privately baptised Mrs. Cross’s
late [1. e. lately born] child, which was a boy, and by
the name of Richard, in Mrs. Cross’s bedroom in
this house. One Farmer Major, of this Parish, spent
the afternoon and evening here, drinking with Mr.
Cross all the time, neither of them eat any supper,
and I left them drinking when I went to bed, which
was about 10.

Nov. 1 6. ... I lent Doctor Clarke a pamphlet called
a sure Guide to Hell this evening, and a very good
moral book it is, taken properly.

On November 29th he arranges with the old Rector
of Babcary for the curacy of that place — ^it being only
six miles from Ansford — at ,^5 a quarter, the surphce
fees, Easter offerings, and free use of Parsonage, gardens
and stables, &c. He is to give up Thurloxton curacy on
January 9th next. On December 5th he receives seven

33 D

1763

letters applying for his vote in connexion with the election
of a new Warden of Winchester College, ‘ as all Wardens
of Winton College are elected by the Fellows of New
College The election was to be at New College on
the loth December. Accordingly he sets out for Oxford
on the yth He is much solicited at Oxford for his vote
by the three candidates, Hayward, Lea and Sale, all of
New College He decides to vote for Sale and secondly
for Mr. Lea. He gives an elaborate description of the
election on December loth in New College Chapel ,
54 Fellows were present, and, after morning service,
received the Sacrament before proceeding to elect The
Sub-Warden then read the Statute ‘ de Electione Cus-
todis Collegii propc Winton ’ Then five scrutators
were chosen and ‘ went up to the Altar to a table within
the rails and then began the Scrutm} and we all in turns
voted for a Warden Finally, Lea was elected He
returns to Ansford on December 14th.

Dec. 26. ... Two of Mr. Cross’s Tenants (one a Farmer
and the other a Taylor and Millei) . . . supped and
spent the evening with us — they lay at Mr. Cross’s
this night.

On December 30th he rides over to Babcary to see his
new cure. He sees Farmer Bower, apparently the prin-
cipal parishioner, who is much vexed to hear there is
only to be one service on Sunday. Woodforde agrees to
have two if his salary is increased to ;^30 per annum.

1764. Jan. 2. ... One Farmer John Major dined and
spent the afternoon here; Mr. Cross sat drinking
with him from lo in the morning till 8 at night. . . .

Jan. 8. ... I dined at Mr. Sanford’s (a Parson) at

34

1764

Walford with Mr and Mrs. Sanford and about ten of
Mr. Sanford’s children. We had a very elegant
dinner, and in a very noble, spacious Parlour. . . .

Jan. 9. Breakfasted at Mr. Cross’s. After Breakfast
Mr. Cross and me settled matters, and I paid him for
my Board 59 days at the rate of i. lid per day . . .

Jan. 12 ... After breakfast I rode upon Cream to my

Curacy at Babcary about six miles from hence, where
I dined upon a Sheep’s heart that I carried there in
my pocket, at the Parsonage house, where I am to be
when I go to Babcary on any occasion.

Jan 15. ... After Breakfast I went upon Cream to my
Curacy at Babcary, where I read Prayers and Preached,
read Prayers in the morning and preached in the after-
noon. This IS the first Sunday I ever officiated at
Babcary Church , and I like it very well. . . I was
rung into the Parish by Mr. John Bower’s order, who
gave the Ringers a pail of Cyder on purpose to ring
me into the Parish. They gave me another ring this
afternoon after Service, and for which I gave them
26. .

Jan. 21. Breakfasted and dined at home After dinner
I set forth for Babcary, where I supped and laid in
the Parsonage House. I hired Ned Dyke and his
horse this morning to carry some cyder etc., to
Babcary for me. I carried three dozen and nine
bottles of cyder, and eight bottles of strong beer,
with a little jar of pickled oysters, some cheese, and
some cold tongue to Babcary, all which were given
by my Father

Feb. 4. ... Went this afternoon from Babcary to East
Charlton which is about one mile, to Parson Gapper’s
to thank him for serving my Church at Babcary for
me last Sunday and there I drank tea this afternoon

35

1764

with Mr. and Mrs. Gapper. They pressed me very
much to sup there and spend the evening and lay
there but I could not.

Feb. 20. . . I have been very busy all this day in plant-

ing my Peas and Beans and Radishes, and Spanish
Onions, in my garden at Babcary. . I was sent this
afternoon to a Poor Woman that lives by the Church,
to come and pray by her — ^which I did. . .

He goes to Oxford on February 27th to ‘ determine ’
for his degree meanwhile Parson Gapper carries on at
Babcary

Mar 26. I churched a poor woman at Babcary yester-
day and she gave me sixpence, which I sent to her
again. Mr Gapper has been so good to serve my
Church for me during my absence, and I sent him
yesterday a genteel note to thank him . . .

April 14. ... Went to Parson Gapper’s this afternoon
at East Charlton, about one mile from Babcary, to
desire him to administer the Sacrament for me next
Friday being Good Friday, which he promised me he
would. I am to serve Keenton for him, about a mile.
I spent a good part of the afternoon with him and
his wife and children, and one Miss Curtiss of Shepton
Mallet their relation, a fine Lady.

April 16. . .1 brewed a quarter barrel of ale to-day.

... I gave Mary Creech [the old woman who looked
after him at Babcary Parsonage] and her daughter
a pair of garters each which I bought of an Irish
Traveller that came to the door and for them I paid
o. o. 6.

April 30. ... I got up this morning at two o’clock to
get or make a sermon for Farmer Bertelet’s funeral

36

1764

this afternoon, and hy twelve o’clock I had finished
almost all of it. ... I buried Farmer John Bertelet this
evening at six O’clock and preached a Funeral Sermon,
the Church was exceedingly thronged with people. . . .

[He receives lor. 6 d. for this sermon on May 6th
from Mrs. Bertelet, the widow.]

May 9. . . One Miss Moore (a very giddy, merry, but
very pretty girl, who was lately moculated) dined
with us [at Ansford]

On June 14th there is a small dispute about payments
for Babcary curacy, and one, the Reverend Mr. Hopkins,
proves to the Diarist that for certain early weeks in
1763-4 the payments are due to him (Hopkins). Every-
thing IS settled amicably, and the Diarist notes, ‘ I never
saw so bold a man in my life as Mr. Hopkins is, and very
droll he is. I thought I must have burst my sides by
laughing in hearing him talk ’ On June i8th the Diarist
and his sister Jenny sup at Mr. William Melliar’s, ‘ Coun-
sellor [Barrister] Gapper of Wmcanton ’, among others,
being of the company. On June 22 he gives a bachelor’s
supper party at Babcary, and his guests ‘ plaid at Fives
in Babcary Churchyard this evening, and I lost there
with Mr. Lewis Bower at betting with him o. i. 6.
The gentlemen pleased me much by seeing them so well
pleased with the homely entertainment.’

On July 28th he inducts Mr. Richard Cheese, who
‘ seems a very good kind of man, and much approved of
by the Parish into the Rectory of Babcary. Mr. Hill,
the old Rector, had died : hence the change. ‘ Mr. John
Bower is to rent his tythes etc , and is to give him per
annum 100. ©. o. I am to be his curate, and to have
per annum, besides the house and stable, gardens and
Easter offerings, the sum of 30 o. o.’ Mr. Cheese’s home

37

1764

was at Bentley near Alton in Hampshire, where he returns
on July 31.

What that good Bishop and great historian, Bishop
Burnet, described in 1708 as ‘ the scandalous practices
of non-residence and pluralities ’ were, unfortunately,
marked features of the eighteenth-century Church
system. The practice was not confined to the ordinary
clergy — the worthy Mr. Cheeses of the Church. Bishops
were offenders on an almost princely scale. Thus Bishop
Watson (1737-1816) of Llandaft, speaking of his income,
says : ‘ The provision of ^^2,000 a yeai, which I possess
from the Church, arises from the tithes of two Churches
in Shropshire, two in Leicestershire, two m my Diocese,
three in Huntingdonshire, on all of which I have resident
Curates ; of five more appropriations to the Bishopiic
and two more in the Isle of Ely as appropriations to the
Archdeaconry of Ely.’ ^ This Bishop paid occasional
visits to his diocese, but actually resided in the Lake
District. Here he says his time was ‘ spent partly in
supporting the religion and constitutions of my Country,
by seasonable pubhcations, and principally in building
farm-houses, blasting rocks, enclosing wastes, making bad
land good, planting larches, etc. By such occupations
I have recovered my health, preserved my independence,
set an example of a spirited husbandry and honourably
provided for my family.’ His agricultural experiments
were, indeed, of scientific utility

^ Anecdotes of the Life of Rtchard Watson, Bishop of Llandaff, vol 11,
P 349 (i8i8) This statement occurs in a letter of the Bishop’s to the
Archbishop of Canterbury, dated May 18, 1808. But Bishop Watson
uses his own case as an example of the evil of pluralities, made necessary,
as he points out, through the disendowment of so large a part of ecclesias-
tical property at the Reformation He does not, however, suggest any
going back on the past, but a thorough reform of Church finance an
exceedingly able letter.

38

1764

Bishop Thomas Newton of Bristol, whose Account of
His Life is not only historically important but most
entertaining, held the Bishopric of Bristol and the
Deanery of St. Paul’s at the same time without the
smallest qualm of conscience. Bishop Newton, however,
until he was an old man of seventy-two, resided a con-
siderable part of the year at Bristol, and laments that his
example was not followed by the Dean and Prebendaries,
who were shamefully neglectful of their duties.

But we should obtain an entirely wrong notion of both
these Bishops if we merely regarded their lives from this,
the plurahst aspect Both were men of marked abihty,
who devoted a great part of their time, as so many
notable eighteenth-century Bishops did, to theological
and political writing : they regarded their episcopal pens
as more important than their episcopal crooks, and, in the
circumstances of the age in which they hved, there was
much to be said for this view.^ Bishop Watson was
admired by such diiferent men as Gibbon and Wilber-
force, and he was one of the few Anglican clergy who
opposed the policy which lost us the American colonies.

‘ I had made ’, he says {Anecdotes of the Life of Richard
Watson, Bishop of Llandaff, vol. i, p. 71), ‘ no scruple of
everywhere declaring, that I looked upon the American
war as unjust in its commencement, and that its con-
clusion would be unfavourable to this kingdom.’

As to Mr. Cheese, the non-resident Rector of Babcary,
we should note the Diarist’s remark that he ‘ seems
a very good kind of man, and much approved of by the
Parish ’.

^ Deists, Theists, Atheists, Socinians, Unitarians, with all these the
Church had to battle, for the whole basis of Christianity was questioned.
The philosopher Bishops Berkeley and Butler pre-eminently held the
Christian fort

39

1764

Aug. 1 8. ... I have made a promise to-day concerning
a certain thing (in eating) ; which every time I break
that promise I pay — i — o.

Aug. 19. ... After the Afternoon Service [Babcary]
I went with the Captain [Rooke] to Parson Gapper’s
at East Charlton, where we spent the remaining part
of the afternoon, with him and his wife. The
Captain went afterwards to Somerton, and I returned
to Ansford — and the first news I heard was, that poor
Miss Milly Chiche (a niece of Mrs. Chiche’s) was
dead; and she died about ii o’clock this morning.
I hope to God that she (poor dear creature) is happy.
I believe verily that she was good to everyone, but
herself, and I am afraid that drinking was her death . .
Sep II. ... After dinner I ivent to East Charlton to
have my Testimonium, for Priest’s Orders, signed by
Mr. Gapper, who did it : and at the same time
I desired him to serve my Church for me on the
Ordmation Sunday which is the 23 of this month,
and which he promised me I spent this afternoon
at Mr Gapper’s, with him, his wife, and his brothei
from Shepton Mallett, Doctor Gapper, who is an
Apothecary there. . . . Mr. William McUiar and his
wife sent their compts to-day to all our family, and
desired that we should dine with them to-morrow
upon a fine haunch of venison.

Oct. 4. . . Drank tea this afternoon at Mrs. Clarke’s
with her, Lady Powel (the Bishop of Wells daughter)
who has two children inoculated by Doctor Clarke,
and Jenny Clarke. . . .

Dr. Clarke was the Diarist’s brother-in-law, being
marned to his sister, Sobieski Woodforde; and the
inoculation which he practised on an extensive scale —

40

1764

he had a special hospital for the purpose — ^was inocula-
tion of the virus of small-pox. Inoculation of small-pox
as a preventive of that disease was introduced into Eng-
land early in the eighteenth century, mainly through the
influence and example of that remarkable person, Lady
Mary Wortley Montagu.^ It was fairly widely practised,
and was generally successful in its effects on those mocu-
lated. It came, however, to be regarded as a public
danger owing to the fact that, through lack of pre-
cautions, the inoculated persons were apt to infect those
not inoculated with the virulent small-pox. So far from
abating the scourge of small-pox, inoculation was held to
have mcreased it. At the end of the eighteenth century
one-tenth of the population are said to have died of
small-pox. It was then that Jenner made his great dis-
covery of the value of the inoculation of cow-pox as
a preventive of small-pox, and practically freed the
civilized world from its most mortal enemy

To return to the narrative. The Diarist is becoming
increasingly anxious about his mother’s health during
October, and on October 30th she and his father set out
for London to see a specialist there. On October 29th
he enters this simple prayer : ‘ O Almighty Lord God,
let It be thy good pleasure to restore my dear Mother to
her former health • but if thou hast otherwise decreed it,
not my will but thine be done.’ He is left in charge of

^ For a brilliant portrait and account of Lad^ Maiy Wortley Montagu
(1690-1762) see Leigh Hunt’s essay in his Men, Women, and Books The
League of Nations Union would do well to issue as a separate leaflet
Lady Mary’s remarks on war ‘ I cannot think we are older, when
I recollect the many palpable follies which are still (almost) umversally
persisted in * I place that of war as senseless as the boxmg of school-
boys , and whenever we come to Man’s estate (perhaps a thousand
years hence) I do not doubt it will appear as ndiculous as the pranks of
unlucky lads ’ (jLetters, vol 111, p 141, Lord Wharnclifl^e’s edition)

41

1764

the house (October 20) ‘ with all the keys, and I will
take great care to be faithful in the trust committed
to me.’

On December 4th he marries his first couple (at
Ansford), an old farmei widower of eighty and a widow
of seventy.

Dec. 8 . Had a very satisfactory letter from Papa

this morning, to inform me that all the danger is over
with Mama. . . . Thanks, do I return, most unfeigned
to Almighty God for it

Dec. 24. . . the new Singers came very late this even-
ing, and they sung a Christmas Carol and an Anthem
and they had cyder as usual and o 2. o. The old
Singers did not come at all, and I have heard that
they have given it over.

Dec. 25. . . Fifteen poor old People dined here as

usual being Xmas Day. We had for dinner to-day
a large Rump of Beef of thirty pound roasted, and
three large plum puddings. Fine beef it was
1765. Jan 9 . Mr Bridges Priest Vicar of the

Cathedral at Wells called upon me this afternoon,
and laid at our house all night. I took him with me
up to Mr. Clarke’s where we supped and spent the
evening. . . . Mr. Bridges made himself very dis-
agreeable to all the Company, and exposed himself
much. We had great part of Cato^ performed this
evening, and done tolerably well.

Jan. 10. ... Mr. Bridges breakfasted with me, and
afterward he went home to Wells. I am not sorry
for it.

Jan. i6. ... Papa and Mama returned this afternoon
with their maid Elizabeth Clothier, from London,

^ Addison’s tragedj
42

1765

perfectly well and easy ! Blessed be God for all great
mercies bestowed upon me a miserable and sinful
creature

Jan. 29. ... Mr John Penny sent me a small plumb
cake and a pair of wpiite] gloves this morning, I buried
his little maid this afternoon at Cary Church. . . .

Feb. 4. Breakfasted, dined, supped, and laid at Babcary
again. I had a view taken this day (by Roger Coles,
Carpenter at C. Cary, and Robm Francis, Mason at
Ansford) of the Parsonage House etc. at Babcary by
order of my Rector Mr. Chese, and they have been at
It all the day, and they brought in a very fair account,
and the least they vpill do it for, which was m the
whole exactly 109 o. 10. They dined with me here,
as did my Clarke Sam. Hutchins, as he assisted them,
and we had a fine leg of mutton boiled, brought from
Ansford on purpose . — Mr. Cheese desired a dinner
for them, and liquor, for which I have charged
Mr. Cheese o 8. o

I gave each of the Artificers o 5.0

Gave their assistant Sam Hutchms o. i. o

They staid here till 10 o’clock this evening.

Feb. 5 Breakfasted, dined, supped, and laid at Babcary
agam. I have been busy to-day m pruning the apple
trees m my garden there. . . .

Feb. II. Breakfasted and dined at Babcary.

. . . For things that my old Woman at Babcary has
bought me this last week — ^paid her o. o. 7^

Viz. for half a pound of Butter . o. o. 4

For one pound of beef Stakes . o. o. 3

For some Cream . ,0.0. o^

Gave Mary for her trouble . . 0.0. 4^

In another entry (February 18) he gives ‘for four

43

1765

eggs 0.0. I ’ and Cheese per pound. Candles, on
the other hand are per pound.

These prices give some mdication of the immense
difference in the purchasing power of money a hundred
and fifty years ago — as far as concerns these particular
commodities. English butter is to-day (1923) about
three times the 1765 price, English beef steaks about
eight times, eggs (they are still dear in February) about
eight or nine times, cheese about six times. Among the
articles named we score only in candies, which can now
be purchased for 5 Jd. per pound. Candles in the Diarist’s
day were, however, heavily taxed, which largely accounts
for the high price.

Feb. 1 1 (conttnued) For laying a wager w ith Betty Crich
. my old Woman’s daughter concerning fiosty weather
last Thursday, and losing with her paid o. o. 6
Feb. 12. . .1 went to enquire when Mr Burge went
to London (but he went last Sunday) as my Father
and Uncle wanted to send five guineas to Cousin Bob
Woodforde, who was last Thursdaj- appointed Sur-
geon’s first Mate to the Hussar Frigate 28 Guns,
now cruising on the Coasts of Ireland, and as he must
go to her, he begs a little money of them to go.

Feb. 17. Breakfasted, dined, supped, and laid at Bab-
cary. I performed the duty of the day there. I
churched a poor woman, and for doing it this morn-
ing she gave me o. o 6. As she was poor and has
a large family, and is a very honest woman, I sent it
her back to her house and gave her besides o. o. 6.
Feb. 28. ... Spent part of the afternoon at Mr. Lewis
Bower’s with him, his brother, Parson Gapper of
East Charlton, and one Mr. Taunton a Roman.
Mr. Taunton is a young sensible man of gieat wealth.

44

1765

March 4. ... After dinner I returned to Ansford where
I supped, spent the evening and laid. On my return
home I called upon Mr. Andrew Russ at Clanville,
and spent the remaining part of the afternoon with
him, Mr. Dod a Baker and a Roman Catholick,
Mr. Thomas and Seth Burge. Mr. Dod and myself
touched a little upon Religion, which I own was not
nght at aU.

For going thro’ Avord Turnpike paid .001

March 18 Breakfasted, dined, supped, and laid again
at Babcary. I brewed half a Hogshead of strong Beer
to-day for my Rector Mr. Cheese, and I had three
Bushels and a half of Malt and three pound of old
Hops. I afterwards brewed half a Hogshead of ale
with the grain and Hops for myself, and added to
the grains half a Bushel of fresh Malt, which I owe
one Mrs Cooke for, of West Camel. Gave my old
woman the grains which she sold to one Solomon
Arthur for o. i. o. . . .

March 25. ... I received this morning of Elizabeth
Clothier my mother’s maid, the sum of ten pounds,
to keep for her, and I shall give her ten shillings per
annum, which is at the rate of five per centum for
the use of it ; I do it purely to encourage her to be
careful, and to make her saving. . . .

March 27. ... I christened two children (Twins) of
Robin Francis’s this afternoon at Ansford Church for
my Father by the names of Joseph and Mary, being
born on Lady Day last . . .

March 30 ... I had my face and head shaved at Bruton

by one Hitchcock, who lives with one Grey a Barber
there, and he shaved me exceeding well. I gave him
o. o. 6 . . . . Coming from Bruton my horse threw me,
but I thank God, I received no manner of hurt. . . .

45

1765

April 4. . Gave Betty Crich ray old %voman’s daughter

o. o. 6 to get her spinning work done in proper time,
as I had hindered her.

April 7. . . My Clarke Sam Hutchins sat up all last

night drinking therefore he did not attend at the
Holy Sacrament [it was Easter Day] — for which I
gave him a severe lecture, and he promised me never
to be guilty of the same again, which I hope he will
not. I had a piece of roast beef for dinner to-day,
and I had my Clarke Sam Hutchins, and his cousin
Thomas Hutchins my gardener to dine here to-
day. . . .

April 18. ... Mr. Penny is presented to the Living of
Evercreech, to hold it for a minor (Justice Robbard’s
son of 12 years old), and is therefore going to quit
ray Father’s curacy at C. Cary, which I am to under-
take for him, and Babcary too, but I cannot ser\c
Babcarv but once a Sunday . . .

On April 29 he goes to Oxford, and stajs there till
May 23, reading his ‘ Wall Lectures ’ for his M A.
degree.^

May 23. I got up this morning at 3 o’clock and went
to the Star Inn in the Corn Market where I took
Coach and set forth for Bath, which goes there to-
day. Gave our Porter for calling me this morning
o. o. 6. Gave a Porter for carrying my Portmanteau
to the Star i. o. There were only two more in the
Machine beside me. One was (I believe) a dissenting
Minister, and the other an Oxford old Lady who is
gging to Cirencester. We breakfasted at Burford, for

^ See pp 158-62 for an account of the course for the B.A and M.A
degrees at Oxford m the eighteenth centuiy.

46

1765

which as we treated the Lady cost each of us o. i. 6.
We took up at Burford two more passengers, one was
a servant man of Major Hargrove who is at Bristol
and his man is going to him ; the other was a stranger
of Burford a young woman going to Cirencester.
Both the women left us at Cirencester, and then
there was only myself, the Major’s Servant, and the
dissenting Minister, a very well behaved man. I paid
my remammg part of the fare at Burford [He
had paid on the 13 th in advance] and for -my
portmanteau the overweight o. 10. 6. We dined
at Tetbury with a stranger, a tradesman. For my
dinner and drinking afterwards paid o 2. o. We got
into Bath this evening about seven o’clock, and we
put up at the King’s Arms in Broad Street, where
I supped and spent the evening and laid. My Father’s
man met me here this evemng with horses.

May 24. ... We got home to Ansford to dinner, where
I dined, supped and laid at my Father’s house.
Blessed be Almighty God for sending me safe home
to my dear Parents again

On May 26 he begins his curacy at C. Cary, and gets
20. o. o. a year from his father for it : this means he can
only take one service at Babcary on Sunday.

May 27. Breakfasted, dined, and laid at home again.
Brother John dined, breakfasted, and laid here again.
After dmner Jack went to Wincanton to a Pony Race,
and he did not return till after ten this evening.

I am greatly afraid Jack is rather wild, but I hope not.
May 28. . . Brother John spent the evening at the
Fair [at Castle Cary].

May 29 . I read Prayers this morning at C. Cary,

47

1765

it being the commemorating the Restoration of King
Charles the Second.

June 6. ... Gave my old woman’s daughter a Fairing
as she goes to Camel Fair to-day, which was o. i. o.
Gave my Clark there [Babcary] and one Thom
Hutchins o. i o to lay out at Camel Fair.

June 23. ... I buried poor Will. Burge this ctening at
Ansford Church for my Father. I hope he is happy.
Poor Will, went with me the very last time that
I went to Oxford, and I liked him mjjch. . .

June 24. ... I read Prayers this morning at C. Cary
it being St. John’s Day. Coming from Church
I called in at Stephen Gibb’s at C. Cary, and I prayed
by his wife who is veiy ill I gave poor Stephen
Gibbs, to buy something for her i. o
July 8. . . Brother John breakfasted, dined, supped

and laid here agam. Brother John is \er\ indifferent
by his being too busy ivith Girls . . .

On July nth he gives a dinnei party at Babcary to
fourteen C. Cary gentlemen, ‘ one of whom ’, he observes,
* was not invited ’.

We all spent the greatest part of the afternoon in
the Churchyard at Babcary, where we were diverted
by some of the Gentlemen playing at Ball,^ at which
I won a betting o. 2. 9 The Gentlemen seemed well
pleased at the Entertainment, which gave me infinite
satisfaction. A terrible accident happened whilst we
were at dinner, which many of us went to see the
Body , viz. a Poor Boy was dragged and killed by
a Horse about half a mile from us on the Ilchester
Road. The boy was about fourteen years old. I hope

^ ‘ Fives,’ I fear against the church wall.

48

1765

to God the Poor Boy is happy. There was no bone
broken, neither was his skull fractured, but he is dead.
We all came home singing, and I thank God well.
My Brother John was indisposed, therefore he could
not go. . . .

July 23 ... Dined and spent the afternoon at Mr.

Clarke’s. . . . One Farmer Tottle of Avord, a Clergy-
man’s son, a very hearty man and within one year of
fourscore, spent the afternoon at Mr. Clarke’s as did
another Farmer.

July 26 . . For three framed pictures for my Tent of

a Boy, paid 3. o. N.B. They are new fashioned
pictures of their Majesties, Mr. Pitt and Mr. Legge,
Prince Ferdinand and the Marquiss of Granby.

Of these celebrities it will be unnecessary to say any-
thing of ‘ their Majesties ’, King George III and his
Queen, or of Mr. Pitt, the elder of course, made Earl of
Chatham in the middle of the following year, 1766.

Mr. Legge, Prince Ferdinand, and the Marquis of
Granby are, however, to-day no more than names to
nine out of ten persons, whether educated or otherwise,
and the following biographical snapshots may, perhaps,
help the reader to understand why our Diarist hung their
pictures in his tent.

Henry Bilson Legge was born in 1708, the fourth son
of the first Earl of Dartmouth. He owed his start in
political life to Sir Robert Walpole, to whom he was
private secretary. After holding a series of posts of
minor importance he became Chancellor of the Exchequer
in 1754, George HI, who disliked him, making it a
condition that ‘ Legge should never enter his closet ’.
With two intervals — ^in 1755 and again in 1757, he
was Chancellor of the Exchequer until 1761. He was

49 E

1765

dismissed in that year by George III because he refused
to pay a large sum to the Landgra^^e of Hesse. He
shared in a measure in Pitt’s popularity, whose colleague
he was.

If not an eminent statesman he was no fool, and
Horace Walpole regarded his death in 1764 as a severe
loss to the Whigs. His unpopularity with George III
doubtless increased his popularity with the public, and
the Diarist, who was a moderate Tory if not a Whig,
would like to have in his tent the picture of a man who
resisted the dangerously encroaching power of King
George III In conclusion, I cannot resist quoting
a slightly cynical reference made to him by Lord Shel-
burne in a letter addressed by the latter to Lord Bute
on October 6, 1761 • ‘Mr. Legge, whatever opinion
your Lordship, I 01 some others ma;y have of him, is
a Gold Box ; one Box is out and another put m his place.’
Shelburne means that Legge will be of \alue, merely as
being a popular commoner, in a Ministry too freely
composed of nobles.^

Prince Ferdinand of Brunswick was bred, to quote his
contemporary, Lord Shelburne, ‘ not only in the camp
but in the Court of Prussia ; he was in all respects an
experienced soldier, and a proud high man.’ “ He
commanded the Allied Forces against the French in the
Seven Years War, and won a succession of now' almost
forgotten victories, among them Minden, 1759, Velling-
hausen, 1761, Wilhelmstall, 1762, in five campaigns
against superior forces. The great historian of the
British Army refers to Ferdinand as a soldier ‘ who,
little though we know him, was the greatest commander

^ Lord Fitzmaunce’s Life of Shelburne, \o 1 1, p 90 See also the
D N B

® Fitztnaurice’s Life of Shelburne, vol i, p 244

50

1765

who led British troops to victory in Europe between
Marlborough and Wellington. . . . British troops may feel
proud to have so served under so able a soldier and so
great and gallant a man in the Campaigns which they
fought in Germany for the conquest of their own
Empire.’ ^

John Manners, Marquis of Granby, was the son of the
third Duke of Rutland, and was born in 1721. He
started his career in politics, then entered the army, and
finally reverted to politics agam. But it is as a soldier,
not as pohtician, that his name is notable. He commanded
a regiment, which he had himself raised, at Culloden in
1746, and when the Seven Years War broke out he
entered the fray. He was present at the battle of Minden
in 1759, which was won by Prince Ferdinand of Brujis-
wick, largely by British valour, and despite the disgraceful
conduct of the British commander. Lord George Sack-
ville, afterwards court-martialled. But it was at Warburg
in the following year that he made his name, when he
led a magnificent and devastating cavalry charge which
overwhelmed the French. He contmued to distinguish
himself as commander of the British troops under Prince
Ferdinand till the end of the war. He died in 1770.
Lord Acton, in his lecture on Frederick the Great,® thus
characteristically refers, in the course of his remarks on
the Seven Years War, to Lord Granby : ‘ When the
Marquis of Granby did better at Warburg, the joy was
great, and he became a popular hero; His hat and wig
were blown off as he led the charge, and his portrait,
bareheaded, in a high wmd, is at Trinity, and was on
the sign of many an inn, especially of a well-known one
at Dorking, in Mr. Pickwick’s time ’

^ Fortescue’s History of the British Army^ vol ii, pp 567-8

^ Acton’s Lectures on Modem History^ pp 290-304.

51 E 3

1765

July 30. . . Jack made Papa this evening very angr\

and uneasy by his defending suicide and talking so
saucy to him. Jack is much altered indeed within
these two years. I am afraid he will be ever miser-
able, but God forbid !

Aug. 13. . .1 went to C Cary Church this morning
and christened a child of Mr. Seth Burge’s by the
name of Mary Russ From church I went to Seth
Burge’s, where I dined, spent the afternoon, supped
and spent the evening.

Mem: We were to have had a Ham and Fowls for
dinner there, but the maid forgot to boil the Ham.

Sep. 10 . . Jack supped out and did not come home

till just 12 o’clock. It IS not well of him to stay so
late as Mama is so bad

Sep. 20 ... Papa and Brother John had some words

this evening, but it ended very well between them
at last.

‘Sep. 26. ... Spent the afternoon at the Lower House ^
with Brother John and one Cass Thomas of Ever-
creech of whom my brother John bought a mare this
afternoon and saddle and bridle for the sum of
8. 8. o. . . .

Sep. 28. ... Dr. Clarke’s cook maid, Mary, was this
morning found out in concealing a dead child in her
box of which she had delivered herself yesterday
morning, whether she murdered it or not is not yet
known, but will be tried by the Coroner and Jury
next Monday

Sep. 30. The Coroner, Mr. Norton with the Jury took

^ The Lower House in Ansford was part of his mother^s estate , she

was a local heiress, and he lived here with his brother John until his

father’s death. This house, of which the present owner of the diary has

a pleasant picture, no longer exists*

52

1765

inquest this afternoon upon the deceased child (a boy)
of Dr. Clarke’s maid, Mary, and brought her in not
guilty.

On October 6, he takes service at Babcary for the last
time, being succeeded by a Mr. Colmer. Most of October
is spent in getting mto the Lower House. Carpenters
at work, &c.

On November 5th he enters that he reads prayers at
Castle Cary Church (‘ being Gunpowder Treason Plot ’).

Dec. I. ... I read Prayers and preached this afternoon
at C. Cary Church. Mrs. White, Mrs. Sam White,
Mr. Andrew Russ, Mr. James and Richard Clarke and
Brother Heighes, supped and spent the evening with
us at the Parsonage. My father 3 id not come down-
stairs all the evemng on account of the Company
and Mama bemg ill. It vexed my Father and Mother
greatly to have company brought to the house by Jack
on a Sunday, and especially as my Mother is so bad.

Dec. 4. ... Brother John went out early this morning
and did not return all day and night. He is gone
a Courting. . . .

Dec. 19. ... Jack kept me up very late this evening
at the Lower House by not coming home till past
12 o’clock.

1766. Jan. 25. ... I had a letter from Mr. Rice, my
taylor m Oxford, to whom I am greatly in debt, it
was a very civil letter. pSe had written to explain he
couldn’t pay him yet.]

Jan. 30. ... I read prayers this morning at C. Cary,
it being K. Charles’ Martyrdom. Papa gave me a
large cheese for the Lower House this morning.
I dined, supped and spent the evemng at Parsonage.

53

1766

Feb. 4. ... Our dear ]Mama is much worse and daily
taking her leave of all of us

On February 6 he enters : ‘ Poor Mama glows weaker
and woise daily. The Parsonage is a \ery melancholy
house now indeed ’

Feb. 7. Poor Mama sent for me and Jack this

afternoon up into hei room and \ei\ solemnly took
her leave of us ; therefore I do not believe she can
eicist very long in this world. . .

Feb. 8. It pleased Almighty God of his great good-
ness to take unto himself mv deai good Mother this
morning, about 9 o’clock, out of this sinful world,
and to deliiei her out of her miseries She went
out of this world as easy as it w'as possible for any-
one. I hope she is now eternally happy m everlasting
glory. . . .

O Lord God Almighty send help from Thy Holy
Place to my dear Father, and to all my deal Mother’s
relations, to withstand so great a shock, and to live
and dye so easy as she did.

On February 12 his mother is buried in the vault in
the chancel of Ansford Church, ‘ very decently and well.
. . . We had all Crepe Hatbands and Cloaks ’ and the pall
bearers likewise.

She left her whole estate between the Diarist, ‘ Sister
Jane, and Brother John.’

Feb. 14. ... Papa gave me this afternoon my money
box that Poor Mama kept for me from a Boy in which
was half a guinea, two half crown pieces, a sixpence,
two small silver coins and id.

54

1766

Feb. 17. ... One Robert Galpme, an old School Fellow
of mine at Winton College, who was expelled genteely
from It, and whom I have not seen this ten years,
called upon me this evemng at Parsonage and spent
the former part of the evening with us there. . .

Feb. 20. ... Galpine (I believe) is in the capacity of
a servant to Mr. Meach of Serne in Dorset an Apothe-
cary.

Feb. 22. ... I dined, supped and spent the evening
at Parsonage. Mr. Richard Clarke, Junr and one
Mr. Strong a Butcher at Pool, an acquaintance of his
supped and spent the evemng with us. Mr. Richard
Clarke makes too free (I think) with our house.

On March 25 he enters that Elizabeth Clothier gives
him another ,^10 to keep for her at 5 per cent. Also
Ehzabeth Crich gives him ^20 to keep for her at 5 per
cent. He is to have half a year’s notice before repayment
of principal.

April II. Gave the Bath Newsman for Mr. Pitt’s
speech o. i. o

It is by no means plain which of Pitt’s speeches is
here meant Is it the famous speech of January 14, made
in course of the debate on the Address, when the great
commoner denounced the Ministry, ‘ every capital
measure they have taken is entirely wrong ’, vindicated
the Americans, and urged that ‘ the Stamp Act be
repealed, absolutely, totally and immediately ’ f Or the
much less famous speech of February 21st when the Bill
for repealing the Stamp Act was introduced ? Or the
speech which astomshed the House on March 10, when
he praised the hated Lord Bute and urged a sort of
Coalition Ministry composed of King’s Friends and the

55

1766

people’s Friends? Or is it some speech at Bath whither
he had gone, ‘ the sum of things is that I am fitter for
a lonely hill in Somersetshire than for the Affairs of
State ’ he had written to Lord Shelburne on Febiuary 24
On the whole we think the first-named speech is meant,
for the debate on the Address had been surreptitiously
printed in Paris. ^

June 23. . .1 went this evening with Miss Rooke and
Jenny to see a Play (the Orphan or Unhapp) marriage)
to the Court House at C. Caiy, performed by some
strollers, and they did it pretty well. . . .

July 4. I dined and spent the afternoon at Justice
Creeds, with him, his Father, one Farmer Clarke of
Lovington, Tenant to the Justice, Miss Molly Pew,
and Sister Jane, we went in the evening to a play
called Love in a Village I paid theie o 1.6. The
Justice treated the Ladies at the Pla) . .

July 18 ... I went to a Play at the Court House at

C. Cary (called the Provoked Husband 01 a Journey
to London) this evening with Aunt Tom, jenn) and
Mrs. Clarke and Brother Heighes and his little boy,
Billy, with little Sam. Clarke. 1 paid for going in,
being Mrs. Midnight’s benefit, 0. 2. o Foi cherries
for myself and many others there paid o 2. o The
Company was greatly disturbed at the Plaj' by the
noise of an insolent, saucy mobb on the outside of the
Play House.

This and other references in the Diary to the visit of
strolling companies of players to so remote and relatively

^ Albert von RnvilleS William Pitt^ Earl of Chatham^ 3 vpls , translated
1907, vol ju, pp i 66~74, Fitzxnauncc’s Shelhume^vol 1, p 264, The
Parhamentary History^ voL xvi

56

1766

unimportant a township as Castle Cary throws into
prominence the different, and in so many aspects better,
conditions of country life in the eighteenth century as
compared with to-day. Castle Cary had m i8oi a
population of 1,281 persons,^ and we shall probably not
be far wrong if we assume it numbered not more than
1,200 persons in 1766. What villages or townships to-
day of this size have the opportunity of seeing the plays
of Shakespeare or ‘The Beggars’ Opera (we shall see that
these are referred to in later entries) and aU sorts of other
plays, excellent or otherwise ? This is an apt illustration
of the deplorable decay of country gaieties following on
the abnormal and dismal development of industrial life
in towns.

July 19. I went and read prayers to a poor woman in
C. Cary (John Baker the Thatcher’s wife) who is
extremely bad and I am afraid in a deep consumption
— a very honest and good woman as well as her
Husband is a man. (They are a very happy couple). . . .
July 21. ... I paid Maby the Overseer this morning
for a Quarter’s Taxes for our Estate, late my Mother’s
2. 2. 2i-, that is for Land Tax . . . o. 18. i. To Six
Poor Rates — 2. 8f per Rate — 0. 16. 3. To window
tax, 19 in number o. 7 lof.

As regards the Land Tax and the Window Tax here
referred to, a word of explanation may be helpfid. The
Land Tax at this date (1766) was to all intents and pur-
poses merely a tax on real property at the rate of in
the pound on the annual value of the property. The
high rate of 4J. was due to the financial burden imposed
by the Seven Years War, The lowering of the tax to y.

^ Phelps’s History oj Somersetshire, vol 1, p. 375.

57

1766

ummportant a township as Castle Cary throws into
prominence the different, and in so many aspects better,
conditions of country life in the eighteenth century as
compared with to-day. Castle Cary had in i8oi a
population of 1,281 persons,^ and we shall probably not
be far wrong if we assume it numbered not more than
1,200 persons m 1766. What villages or townships to-
day of this size have the opportunity of seeing the plays
of Shakespeare or ^he Beggars’ Opera (we shall see that
these are referred to in later entries) and all sorts of other
plays, excellent or otherwise ? This is an apt illustration
of the deplorable decay of country gaieties following on
the abnormal and dismal development of industrial life
in towns.

July 19. I went and read prayers to a poor woman in
C. Cary (John Baker the Thatcher’s wife) who is
extremely bad and I am afraid in a deep consumption
— a very honest and good woman as well as her
Husband is a man. (They are a very happy couple). . . .

July 21. ... I paid Maby the Overseer this mornmg
for a Quarter’s Taxes for our Estate, late my Mother’s
2. 2. 2f, that is for Land Tax ... o. 18 i. To Six
Poor Rates — 2 Sf per Rate — o. 16. 3. To window
tax, 19 in number o. 7. lof.

As regards the Land Tax and the Window Tax here
referred to, a word of explanation may be helpful. The
Land Tax at this date (1766) was to all intents and pur-
poses merely a tax on real property at the rate of 4J in
the pound on the annual value of the property. The
high rate of 4^. was due to the financial burden imposed
by the Seven Years War. The lowering of the tax to p.

^ Phelps’s History of Somersetshire, vol 1, p 375.

57

1766

m 1767 caused the then Chancellor of the Exchequei to
attempt taxation in America with ultimate consequences
of disaster. But the tax in the time of William and Mary
(1692) had been a genuine income tax, including personal
as well as real property Somehow the ‘ personal ’ part
shpped out silently, but Pitt had the precedent of 1692,
to say nothing of more ancient enactments, when between
1799-1802 he introduced our friend, the income tax,
which with an interval of absence from 1815 to 1842,
has continued to dog our steps, and pester us with shame-
less importumties

The Window Tax was the immediate successor of the
Hearth or Chimney Tax, and appeared in 1696. At that
date houses with less than ten windows paid 2J., and from
ten to twenty, 2J., and 41- additional But the tax
steadily increased, notably during the Seven Years War
and the Napoleonic Wars — ^Pitt’s 1792 exemption of
houses with less than seven windows being short lived
The tax was not repealed till 1851, when it sank beneath
its load of unpopularity and evil Health results. The
yield of this odious tax in 1850 was, however, ;£i,7o8,504,
and as the Chancellor of the Exchequer could not afford
to lose so large a sum, another old friend was revived,
the Inhabited House Duty.^

July 22. ... I dined, supped and spent the evening at
the Parsonage. Mr. Clerke the Player, alias Mrs
Midnight spent the afternoon at Parsonage. . . .

July 30 For a pr of new Paltry Slippers of Dunford at
C. Cary paid 0. 5. o. N.B. I shall never have any

^ If any reader is hungry for further information on these or any other
taxes he should consult that fascinating work taxation and Taxes tn
England^ by Stephen Dowell (4 vols , 1888), on which the above com-
ments are based

58

1766

more dealings with him, I believe, for he is not only
extortionary, but also very impudent.

Aug. I. ... I gave a poor old wounded soldier o. o. i.

Aug. 3. . . I buried a little maid of Phill Stockman’s
this evening at C. Cary that died in the SmaE
Pox. . . .

Aug. 5. ... I had some talk in C. Cary Churchyard
with a Methodist stranger. Mr. John Burge and
Mr. James Clarke supped and spent the evening at
Parsonage. My father would not see them which
occasioned very high words between him and Jack
after. My Father’s temper of late makes me quite
miserable.

Aug. 12. Lerft Jack this mormng, which makes me very
poor, 2. 12. 6. Jack went to Lydford Fair this morn-
ing and was out all day and night.

Aug. 19. ... Henry Fitch Esq., of High HaU, Wim-
borne, Dorsett sent for me this afternoon to Ansford
Inn, on his road to Bristol, where I spent part of the
afternoon with him. He drank tea with us at the
Parsonage this afternoon. Fitch is an old school
fellow of mine when at Winchester, and is now Gent.
Comm, of Queen’s College, Oxon. He has lately had
a bad fall from his horse, which gave him a violent
pain in his breast, therefore is going to the Hot Wells
at Bristol to drink the waters.

On August 22, being the Bishop’s Triennial Visitation,
which the Archdeacon took, the Bishop ‘ being very old ’,
they had the usual service at Castle Cary Church, at
which the Diarist read the prayers. They dined at
Ansford Inn, and the Archdeacon treated him, ‘ bemg
the Reader, for my dinner and for hquer as long as he
stopped. I paid myself afterwards for wine etc., o i. o ’.

59

1766

Aug. 25 . . After breakfast I went with Brother John

to Wells to have Counsellor Andrew’s opinion of my
Mother’s appointment to me, Brother John and
Sister Jane, which we had satisfactorily. We paid the
Counsellor for his opinion in writing i. i. o.^

Between September i and September 4 they (he and
his brother John) go to Winchester ‘ to the Election ’,
and on September 4 he notes, ‘ I gave Brother John this
afternoon o. 5. o his money being all gone. N.B. High
time to decamp.’

Sept. 12. ... I spent the afternoon at Dr. Clarke’s. . . .
Brother Heighes came in at the latter part of the
afternoon to us, rather merry and exposed himself
greatly by his talk to me. . . .

Sep. 14. ... Mr. James Clarke who went to Kingsgate
in Kent to my Lord Holland after Mr. MeUiar on
Mr. Chiche’s account, which is 180 miles, returned
this afternoon (Sunday) about one o’clock with Mr.
MeUiar. Mr. James set out from Ansford last
Thursday 10 o’clock in the forenoon, there and back
again is near 400 miles. . . I was taken extremely
bad this evening just after I was in bed in a faintmg
fit, but, I thank God (through Jack’s assistance etc.),
I soon got better. If my brother had not laid in the
same room, I do believe I must have expired this
evenmg.

Sept. 29. [At dinner with the Creeds.] — N.B. We had
a Pine Apple after dinner, the first I ever saw or
tasted.

Oct. 5. ... Mrs. Grant of Henbridge spent this after-

^ Counsellor is an old fasMoned atle for a barrister. Now instead of

employing ‘ counsellors we employ ‘ counsel ’.

60

1766

noon at Parsonage, she came to talk with my Father
about Jack and her daughter, Nancy, which I hope
now will soon be settled to their satisfaction.

Oct. 1 8. ... I entirely forgot that this was St. Luke’s
Day, and therefore did not read Prayers at C. Cary
which I should have done otherwise. As it was not
done willfully, I hope God will forgive it.

On October 31, he borrows £ 2^0 of Mr. Robin White
to pay for ‘ Oxford Debts ’. He tries to get Mr. Leach
of Avord and Mr. Gapper of Yarlington to take his
services during his absence in Oxford, and other parsons
too, but fails for a vanety of reasons : Mr. Gapper
because he already preaches three times on Sunday,
Mr. Leach because his mother has just died ; so he has
to defer his j'ourney to Oxford.

Dec. 2. Luke Barnard came to hve with me as a servant
this day. I am to give him per annum three pounds,
a coat and waistcoat and hat besides victuals and
drink, washing and lodging. . . .

Dec. 22. ... I paid Mr. White for my half Pig — 85 p*
weight I. 3. o. . . .

Dec. 29. ... Jack did not come home till after one
o’clock in the morning, and therefore kept me awake
almost all night. He was at Farmer Cocks of Grove
a dancing there.

1 767. J anuary i . I read Prayers this morning at C. Cary
Church being New Year’s Day. I dined, supped and
spent the evening tiU 10 o’clock at Parsonage, and
after ten I went over to Mr. Clarke’s new Hospital
where I spent the whole night and part of the morn-
ing till 4 o’clock a dancing, on account of Mr. James
Clarke’s apprenticeship being expired. A great deal

61

1767

of company was there indeed, viz , etc. . . . We had
a very good band of musick, 2 Violins and a Base Viol.
We were excessive merry and gay there indeed. [He
observes that Brother Heighes ‘ exposed himself
greatly ’ ]

Feb. 3 . . I spent the evening and supped at Ansford

Inn, there being a Masquerade Ball there this even-
ing, and very elegant it was, much beyond my
expectation in all respects. . . Parson Penny, Gapper,
Baily, Witwick and Overton and myself were the
Clergymen that were there. . . . Brother John [was
in the character of] a Counsellor, Brother Heighes,
King Richard the Third , John Burge, Othello ,
Sister Jane, Shepherdess ; Sally Clarke, Diana Trapes ^
. . cum multis aliis, all in very rich dresses but in

no particular characters. ... I did not dance the
whole evening. We had good musick viz., four
Violins, a Bass Viol, a Taber and Pipe, a Hautboy
and French horn played by Mr. Ford.

Feb. 9 ... I got up at 3 o’clock this morning to brew

a hogshead of strong beer. ... I was busy all day at
the Lower House, and therefore stayed there the
whole day, and did not go to bed this night as we
could not tun our liquor tiU near two in the morning.

Feb. 12. I got up before one this morning and brewed
a 3 quarter barrel of strong beer and some small beer
and had it all cool and tunned by four o’clock in the
afternoon . .

On February 16 he takes Miss Jordan to Wincanton —
the Bear, to a concert and ball, ‘ a very genteel ball ’ ;
he danced every dance with Miss Jordan from 10 to 4 in
the morning ‘ (the best dancer in the room) ’.

^ Who will be remembered as a character m Gay’s Beggar’s Opera

62

1767

March 7. . . I have taken for these last three mornings

one hour before breakfast, the second rind of Alder
stick steeped in water, and I do really think that I
have gained great benefit from it, half a pint each
morning ; it must be near the colour of Claret wine.
N,B. Very good to take every Spring and Fall.

Under date March 15 and 18 he refers to the ‘un-
generous ’ action of his uncle who had been to see
Mrs. Powell at Harding near St Albans, Herts, patron
of Ansford and Castle Cary livings, to try and get them
for his son, thus supplanting the Diarist. He refers
bitterly to his uncle.

March 24. I was Weeded this morning by Mr. James
Clarke, and had two ounces of blood taken from me,
for which I gave him 2. 6.

N B. My blood was very rich and, therefore,
proper to be bled.

April 9. Mrs. Grant of Hambridge came early this
morning on horse back to the Lower House and gave
it to Jack for breaking of the Love Affair with her
daughter. Mrs. Grant is too selfish.

Jack does not appear to have been perturbed as he
dined at Ansford Inn with friends and then went with
them to Yeovil, ‘ where he remained aU night

April 10. ... Jack did not please at Parsonage this
evenmg being very much disguised in Beer, but it
is but seldom and I hope will be more seldom, the
more so the better

April 14. I read prayers this morning again at C. Cary
Church. I prayed for poor James Burge this morning,

63

1767

out of my own head, hearing he was just gone off
almost in a consumption. It occasioned a great
tremulation in my voice at the time. I w'ent after
prayers and saw him, and he was but just alive. He
was a very good sort of a young man and much
respected. It was the evil which was stopped and
then fell upon his lungs. Grant O Almighty God
that he may be eternally happy hereafter. . . .

On April 20 his father with Jane and John set out for
London; his Father is going to see Mrs. Powell at Harding,
Herts, about the Livings The Diarist himself sets out
for Oxford on April 21. On May 3 he had a new wig
and his ‘ Tupee ’ cut off and head shaved He parted
reluctantly with his tupee.

On May 23 he took his M.A. degree and stood the usual
wine. Rum Punch, &c., to the M.C R. and B.C R.
[Masters’ and Bachelors’ Common Room]. On June 2
he returns by coach and postchaise via Bath to Ansford,
which he reaches on June 3.

July 6. ... I sent a letter this morning to Mr. Millachip,
Brazier in High Street Oxford, to send me a dozen
spitting boxes. . . .

He buries a number of people during these months as
a fever rages in Castle Cary.

July 24. ... Aunt Anne, my Father, Sister Jane and
Brother John dined and spent the whole afternoon
with me at Lower House and indeed they did me
great honour by doing so

JV.R. My father sent me down a couple of fowls
ready roasted, and I gave them a fine ham, some
beans, some greens, and a good rich raisin pudding. . . .

64

1767

August I. ... I received a letter . . . from Edward,
Bishop of Bath and Wells to desire me to transmit
to him a correct list of Papists or reputed Papists
with an account of their age, sex, occupation and time
of residence in the Parish of Castle Cary, with all
convenient expedition at Wells, in order to its being
laid before the House of Lords next Session.

Sep. II. ... I dined and spent the afternoon at
Justice Creed’s with him, his father. Parson Gapper,
etc. We had a noble pine apple after dinner. . . .

Sep. 30. ... I went a fishing this morning in our great
pond in Pond Close, with a net of my Father’s and
we caught in about two hours, 5 brace of tolerable
Tench. My father was with us and I am afraid
caught cold there . . Jack returned from Taunton
this evening with his cockade [as an ensign in the
Somerset Militia], and I thank God is brave.

Oct. 10. . . . My Father let Jack have this morning
60. o. o to equip himself for the [Somerset] Militia,
he being an Ensign in it.

Oct. II. ... Mr. Will Melhar sent me a note this
morning, to desire me to be at the meeting of the
Gentlemen etc., of this County, at Bridgwater to-
morrow, to put in nomination two proper Persons
to represent this County in Parliament, the ensuing
Parliament ; and it was so civil a note that I could
not refuse him. . . .

Oct. 12. . . . After breakfast, about six o’clock, I set
forth for Bridgwater in Ansford Inn Post-chaise, in
which I went to Piper’s Inn, where I took another,
and went to Catcott to Mrs. Wm. Melliars there,
where I made another breakfast, with Mr. Wm.
MeUiar, his wife and daughter, Agatha Clarke and
Counsellor MeUiar.

65

F

1767

. . . After breakfasting at Catcott, I went to
Bridgwater in Pipers Inn Chaise, Mr. Wm. Melliar
and his brother went with me in Counsellor Melliar’s
Chaise,

. . . There was scarce ever seen so numerous an
assembly on such an occasion. We put up our horses
at the Globe Inn in Bridgwater. We dined at the
Swan, with near fourscore gentlemen of the first
rank in the Country. For our ordinary we each paid
o. 3. o, for wine, fruit and servants, pd o. i. 6.

At 2 o’clock we all went to the Town Hall, and Sir
Charles Tynte and Mr. Cox, Lieutenant Colonel of
the Somerset Militia, were the two Persons put in
nomination, they having by much the majority.
Mr. Trevilian opposed them, and is determined to
stand the Poll at the Election, though desired by
his friends to relinquish it then. Mr. Mildmay,
Sergeant Burland, Sir Abraham Elton, the Sheriff,
Mr Proviss Junr of Shepton Mallett and Peter Taylor
spoke in the Hall for Sir Charles and Mr Cox. SirWm.
Haugh (a very mean Fellow) and Major Putt and
Mr. Allen, both very cleaver men, for Trevilian We
were all handsomely squeezed in the Hall. Sir Charles
Tynte spoke and cleared himself from the imputation
he laid under concerning the Cyder Tax. Mr. Cox
spoke and most elegantly and genteelly Old Mr. Cox
spoke very well with regard to his son. At the Globe
Inn in Bridgwater, Barber etc , pd 0. 2. 6.

I returned in the evening in Piper’s Inn Post-
chaise which I kept there, with Mr Melliar and his
brother to Catcott, where I supped and slept at Mr.
Melliar’s.

I gave Pipers Inn Post-chaise man o. 2. 6.

At Whist this evening at Catcott with Counsellor

66

1767

Melliar against his brother and his wife, won
o 2. 6.

Oct. 20 ... I buried poor Richard CoUins, late

servant to Uncle Tom, this afternoon at C. Car7,
who died mad in the Fever that rages in these parts.
It is called the putrid Fever. ...

Oct. 23. Young Mr. Thos. Francis died this morning
in the Fever. He has had the Fever most violently,
quite frantick From this Fever good Lord deliver
us, if it be Thy good will . . .

Oct. 24. An old Hare and a young Hare were seen in
my garden to-day. . .

Oct. 25. I read Prayers and preached this morning
at C. Cary Church. It being the King’s accession
to the Throne. I read the Service appointed for it
throughout, to the sermon. I did not use to read
this service on common days, but as it happened now
on a Sunday, I was obliged to, as directed. This
day did not use to be a Prayer day on common days
for years back at C. Cary, that is not since George
the 2nd. . .

Nov. 7. Brother John returned this morning from
Taunton, and he dined supped etc., at Parsonage and
slept at the Lower House Jack becomes his regi-
mentals very well. . .

Nov. 24. . .For five gallons of Rum, being part of
a Puncheon, divided among several gentlemen at
Dr. Clarke’s this morning at 8. 9 per gallon pd 2. 3. 9.

. . . Colonel Cox’s brother and Mr. Wm. Melhar
waited on me this morning at the Lower House, and
desired my vote for Sir Charles Tynte and his brother,
Colonel Cox, which I promised him. They stayed
with me but a little time.

Nov. 28. . . I lent Mrs. Melhar the 3 last volumes of

67 F 2

1767

the Conniseur, this morning, and she lent me the six
volumes of Tom Jones.

Dec. 3 My man Luke Barnard, acquainted me this
morning that he did not like his wages, and unless
I would raise them, he must leave me, which he is to
do at Lady Day next, and his year being up yesterday,
I am to give him at the rate of five pounds a year till
Lady Day without any new cloathes etc. I am not
very sorry. He is a willing fellow but indolent and
too fond of Cyder. He is going to farm, that is
the reason of his leaving me . . . Mrs. Melliar was
J-oshonahly frightened into a fit by a cat after supper
at the Doctor’s [where there was a party], but soon
well. . . .

Dec. II. I dined, supped and spent the evening at
Justice Creeds, with him, his father, Mrs. Betty
Baker, her three nieces of Bridgwater, that is. Miss
Baker rather ordinary. Miss Betsy very pretty, and
Miss Sukey very middling, rather pretty than other-
wise, all very sensible and agreable, and quite fine
ladies, both in Behaviour and Dress and Fortunes. . . .

Dec. 22. ... Great Bandying at Ansford Inn to-day on
account of Mr. Trevelyan’s (Candidate for the County
of Somersett at the coming Election) giving a dinner
to his friends, which were the lower sort of People. . . .

Dec. 26. ... Jack supped and spent his evening at
the Catherine Wheel and was out late. It is very
disagreeable, his way of life.

1768. Jan. 4. ... Jack did not come home till near
four m the morning. He was much in liquor and
quite unhappy. The Devil has had great power
over him to-day. O Lord, grant him strength from
Thy Holy Place, to withstand him better pro futuro.

Jan. 6. I read prayers this morning at C. Cary Church

68

1768

being Epiphany. I had a small congregation, it being
excessive cold, as cold and severe weather on all
accounts as in the year 1740. . . .

On January 12 he enters that he buried a man found
dead in the snow

Feb 3. . . One Sarah Gore, came to me this morning

and brought me an instrument from the Court of
Wells, to perform publick Pennance next Sunday
at C. Cary Church for having a child, which I am to
admmister to her publickly next Sunday after Divine
Service [which accordingly was done after the sermon
on Sunday Feb 7]

Public Penance for such sins as formcation and slander,
mediaeval though the practice may seem to modern
notions, was occasionally practised throughout the
eighteenth century How often it is impossible to say
Several instances are quoted in Abbey and Ovei ton’s
admirable work, ‘The English Church in the Eighteenth
Century^ and two or three more have been unearthed
by Dr. Wickham Legg.® The Diarist does not give us
any idea that he thought the custom rare, and it may be
that It was more common than has been supposed. The
ordeal was terrible enough, and it is not without reason
that the phrase ‘ to put on a white sheet ’ has survived.
For that is what 'the Penitent wore, standing in the
middle of the church and confessmg. Dr. Legg has
discovered examples of the form of confession. Thus in
the course of one actually used in 1733, the woman
says, ‘ I ... do here, in the presence of Almighty God,
^ Vol 11, pp 506-9

* English Church Life, (1914), pp 257-9 278-80

69

1768

and this congregation, humbly confess and acknowledge,
that I have most grievously offended his Divme Majesty,
in defiling my body, by committmg the heinous sin of
fornication, with William, for which, my said foul
offence, I am heartily sorry, and do sincerely repent
thereof, and beg of God, mercy and forgiveness, for the
same . . , ’ And in 1 8oi a man confessed as follows :

‘ Good People Whereas I contrary to good manners and
Christian Charity have unjustly reproached and defamed
Elizabeth Bridges ... by saymg to her “ You are a strum-
pet and I knew you when you lay on the Botley Road ”, of
which I am convicted m the said Court [the Archdeacon’s
Court] by my own confession and by the decree of that.
Court am come hither to acknowledge my Fault, which
I heartily do, and am sorry I have so defamed and injured
the said Elizabeth Bridges, and do hereby ask forgiveness
of the same.’

Feb. 17. . . As I returned from Church [it was Ash

Wednesday] I went into Ansford Inn and read the
Commendatory Prayer to poor Mrs Perry, who was
j'ust departing this life and who died j'ust as I had
finished. She went off extremely easy, without any
visible emotion at all. I hope she is gone to unspeak-
able joys of Eternity. Lord, make us wise to consider
our latter end and live good lives. . . .

Feb. 25. ... I sent two spitting Basons to Counsellor
Melliar this morning at Gallhampton, as a present. . . .

Feb. 28. I read prayers and preached this morning

at Ansford Church Brother John spent his whole

day with Mr. Wright at Ansford Inn. My father and
Doctor Clarke had a few words coming out of Ansford
Church this morning, but all things were made up
before they parted and the Dr. came and smoked

70

1768

a pipe with my Father at Parsonage m the afternoon,
with his wife . . .

March i . ... Great dinners etc , given to-day at

the George Inn and the Angel by Sir Charles Tynte’s
and Mr. Cox’s friends, viz. by Lord Ilchester, Lord
Berkeley of Bruton and Mr. Mildmay, but neither
were there. There were a great multitude of all sorts,
gentle and simple Mr. Cox himself was there. Bells
ringing etc , and a great procession through Town
with Musick playing and guns firing. They all came
up in the afternoon as far as Justice Creeds, and Mr.
Cox himself being there, we [the Diarist was dining
with Justice Creed] both went out and spoke to
him, and we both went back with him, with the
Procession down to the George Inn, where we drank
success to him, and was there for an hour in the large
room with the multitude till Mr. Cox made a very
handsome, sensible and genteel speech, and then
he withdrew as did we immediately. Brother John
dined and spent the evening with the multitude.

March 2. . . Esq. Farr went and drank one bottle

of Port with me at the Lower House this afternoon.
He has got £1000 per annum and lives in a very
handsome manner in Dorsetshire. . . .

It is clear that the Diarist regarded a Squire with
£i,ocx> a year as a rich man. The sum is so small as
compared with present ideas of a rich man’s income that
we may as well pause to consider what the equivalent
of £1,000 a year in 1768 would be in present values.
Despite the difficulties of estimating the variations in
the purchasing power of money at different periods ^ we

^ Readers interested in this bewildering subject should, as a pre-
liminary, consult Cunningham’s Grewth of English Industry and Cmmeree,

71

1768

would hazard the estimate that the rough equivalent of
£i,ooo a year (net) in 1768 would be at least £5,000
a year (net) to-day, January i, 1923. In making this
estimate we have had regard to the fact that a Curate’s
pay, for instance the Diarist’s, a hundred and fifty years
ago was not much more than £50 a year , that an
agricultural labourer, according to Arthur Young, at
Taunton in 1770 got is. a day with Cyder thrown in ,
that Squire Weston was regarded as one of the richest
men in Somerset with his estate of ‘ upwards of £5,000
a year’, and that Fielding makes the landlady say to
Tom Jones in the inn on the road to Bristol, ‘ And yet,
I warrants me, there is narrow' a one of all those officer
fellows but looks upon himself to be as good as arrow
a squire of £500 a year ’ (book viii, ch. ii ) ; that the
Diarist only paid his servant-boy about £5 a year w ages,
that the prices of a variety of essential food-stufts w ere
at least five times less than to-day (see p. 44) — on the
other hand, the price of wheat per quarter in the ten
years from 1763 to 1773 averaged (early in March, mid-
way between Harvests) from 38J. 6d to 45J. a quarter
at Mark Lane,^ and the price to-day for English Wheat
at Mark Lane is from 41 to 44J, a quarter.®

Of course travelling was much more expensive than
now, and one could not get the same general comfort
for one’s money, but in so far as comparison is possible
I do not think we should be far wrong in multiplying
1 768 incomes by five in order to get the modern equivalent.
From this time, however (mdeed the process began a year
earlier), prices rise steadily, by 1803, when the Diarist

Modern Tunes, Part II, Appendix G, p 937, and the Dtcttenary of
Pohtual Economy, articles on wages and prices, &c.

^ Thorold Rogers, History of Agncultural Prices in England, vol vii.
Table of Wheat Prices ® The Times, December 30, 1922

72

1768

died, they had practically doubled — according to Arthur
Young’s computation.

March 4. ... I lent Brother John this afternoon at
Lower House, to pay his expenses at Ansford Inn last
Wednesday night, i . i . o.

N.B. It was the last guinea I had, but it was
proper so to do, that he might fay no means appear
shabby . .

March 15. Justice Creed made me a visit this morning,
and my Brother gave him a song, w'hilst James Clarke
performed on his Base Viol. . . .

March 17. ... Great rejoicings this day at C. Caiy,
on account of Mr. Trevylyan’s declining standing
the Poll for this County of Somers ett after so much
hurry and disturbance. So that Sir Charles Tynte
and Mr. Cox are to be our members. May they make
great and worthy Representatives. . ,

March 21. I got up very early this morning and after
breakfast I set out for Oxford for the University
Election.

He got safely to Oxford on Mr. Francis’s horse, lent
for the occasion, and Sir Roger Newdigate is elected, much
to his satisfaction. He returns to Ansford on March 26.

March 29. ... My Father would not play cards, it
being Passion Week and the Justice [Creed, who was
visiting there] was not very pleased.

N.S. No cards this week at Parsonage which I
think IS not amiss, though there might be no harm. -
April 5. ... My tenants from Sandford Orcas came to
me this morning and paid me their rents in ail
4. 17. o . . I gave them all a dmner , a loin of veal
’ 73

1768

roasted and a good plumb pudding for their prompt
pay

April 6 . . . . My new Boy . . . [George Hutchins] came
home this morning. . . I settled as underneath with
his Father for wages. — ^To give him per annum 2. 2.0.
To let him have (that is, only to lend it him durmg
the time he lives with me) a coat, a waistcoat and
hat etc. He is to find himself in shoes, breeches
and shirts and if I buy them for him to deduct it
out of his wages. He is a likely boy and bears a good
character. . .

April 14. I made a visit this mommg to old Mr. Creed
in South Cary. I made two dinners this day, one at
the Lower House by myself to teach my new Boy to
wait at table and another at Parsonage. . . .

I went over to C. Cary this night after eleven
o’clock and privately baptised a child born this day
and very dangerously ill in convulsions, by name
George, of Perry’s a Mason and a poor man in South
Cary.

Mem ' Never did I any ecclesiastical duty with more
pleasure as it gave such great satisfaction to its Parents,
and that they were so good and charitably disposed
to have it done. The poor innocent Babe was taken
with a violent fit, immediately after I had named it,
and I really thought was dead, but it pleased God to
restore it again, which was undoubtedly a blessing
from Heaven for their goodness. Blessed is the man
whose strength is in thee, in whose heart are thy ways !
Great is Thy Mercy O Lord God of Hosts !

April 15. . . . The poor little Infant which I privately
baptized last night departed this world this after-
noon. . . .

April 17. . . After Cary Service I buried that little

74

1768

Infant which I privately named two days ago, —
2 days old, a very happy turn for the dear Innocent.
April 19. ... We had some Country Dancing and
Minuets at Lower House [where he was giving a
party]. I danced Country dances with Mrs. Farr
and Miss Payne. I danced one Minuet with Mrs.
Farr at last. I gave Stephen Bennett the Fidler
o. 2. 6. We were very merry and no breaking up till
2 in morning. I gave Mrs. Farr a roasted Shoulder
of Mutton and a plum Pudding for dinner — Veal
Cutlets, Frill’d Potatoes, cold Tongue, Ham and cold
roast Beef, and eggs in their shells. Punch, Wine,
Beer and Cyder for drinking.

May 9. ... I never saw a Peacock spread his tail
before this day at Justice Creeds and most Noble
it is. — How wonderful are Thy Works O God in
every Being.

May 13. . . . Terrible Riots in London^ by the Paper
have been and likely to be.

May 22. ... My Poor Father and Jack had a dispute
this evening. O that Jack was but well settled in
Life, what pleasure would it give us all. . . .

May 23. I rec** a note from my Father this morning
by Sister Jane and wherein he insists on Jack’s not
coming to this house again for some time, as he
disturbed him so much last night that he could not
sleep.

On May 26 a ‘ very fine Tench (above a pound) which
Jack also caught [a brace of Tench had been sent to
Justice Creed] was sent up to my Father ’. The Father
sends £20 to the Diarist to give Jack.

^ These were the Wilkes Riots on May 10 in St George’s Fields See
pp 91-2,

75

1768

June 25. At Back Gammon with my father to-day
lost o. o. 6. A betting with Brother John at Drafts
and at Back Gammon with my Father lost what he
owed me, — 2. 6.

On July 14th and i6th he buries two small children
who died of small-pox and observes ‘ I must say it is
very cruel of Robin Francis not to have had them
inoculated, as Dr Clarke would have done it for a mere
trifle

July 18. ... The Church Wardens of C. Cary (Mr. Seth
Burge and Dav^ Maby) waited on my father this
afternoon for leave to dig up the Fives-Place m Carj^
Churchyard, and it was granted. . . .

On July 23 his great aunt arrives to stay at the Par-
sonage from Bath , she beats him greatly at Back Gammon.
He says, later, ‘ My great Aunt is an extreme sensible
old Lady.’ On July 29 he dines and spends the after-
noon with Justice Creed, his, the justice’s, father, and
Parson Gapper of Yarlington. Constant hospitality is
interchanged with the neighbours in all these years.

Aug. I. . . . Dr. Clarke had a letter this evening from
Dr. Dimsdale from Hartford who is just going to
embark for Holland, and from thence is to go by land
to Petersburg in Russia, to inoculate the Empress
of Russia and her son. It is a pity but James Clarke
had went with him.

Thomas Dimsdale (1712-1800) was a medical prac-
titioner at Hertford and made his name by his advocacy
of inoculation, his book The Present Method of Inoculation

^ Sec pp. 40-1 for rcnwrki) on inoculation.

76

1768

for the Small Pox^ published in 1767, passing through
numerous editions. In the year following the publication
of this work ‘ he was invited to quote the author of
the graphic account in the Dictionary of National
Biography, ‘ to St. Petersburg by the Empress Catherine
to inoculate herself and the Grand Duke Paul, her son.
The Empress herself seems to have placed perfect reliance
on the Englishman’s good faith, but she could not answer
for her subjects. She had, therefore, relays of post
horses prepared for him all along the line from St. Peters-
burg to the extremity of her Dominions, that his flight
might be instant and rapid in case of disaster. Fortunately
both patients did well, and the physician was created
a Councillor of State with the hereditary title of Baron,
now borne by his descendant. He received a sum of
£10,000 down, with an annuity of £$ 00 , and £2,000
for his expenses. The Empress presented him with a
miniature of herself and her son set in diamonds, and
granted him an addition to his family arms in the shape
of a wing of the Black Eagle of Russia.’

He again went to Russia to inoculate other members
of the Royal Family in 1784. Baron Dimsdale sat for
Hertford in two Parliaments, 1780 and 1784, wrote
various additional works on inoculation, established a
hospital for inoculation at Hertford, and died in 1800
aged eighty-eight He was a Member of the Society
of Friends.

On August 6 the Diarist goes with Justice Creed to dine
at Stourton with Mr. Hoare,^ ‘ a tall thin Gentleman, and
very familiar and as rich as any man in the Kingdom
and his pictures and furniture equally good.

‘ N, B. Servants wear Ruffels, but not suffered to
take vails.’ ®

^ Of the famous banhng house

77

® Tips.

1768

On August 9 Mrs. Melliar gives a public breakfast
in the Cary Vicarage garden in honour of Lord Stavor-
dale’s coming of age. ‘ His Lordship is on his travels
abroad.’ Among the guests Mr. and Mrs. Gapper and
Miss Gapper. ‘ There was dancing after breakfast in
the garden till three in the afternoon ’ Later there was
a ball at Ansford Inn. The Diarist plays at Quadrille
with Mrs Melliar, Mrs. Gapper, and Mr. Scrogg and
loses 6 d.

Justice Creed was not at these festivities, there being
‘ a misunderstanding between the Houses ’ . On August 1 3
some things he has ordered from Oxford arrive, among
them 8 Pewter dishes and one dozen plates, ‘ all engraved
with my arms ’.

On August 17 he sets out for Oxford with his bo),
George Hutchins, ‘ my George ’ — for the election of
a Warden of New College: Oglander elected, not his
friend Sale. He notes on August 21 that they dine in
College ‘ now at three o’clock everyday, Sundays excepted,
which is half after three then ’. He reaches Ansford
again on August 24.

Aug. 29. ... Justice Creed called upon us this evening
and he desired me to dine with him to-morrow with
the Lady of the Manor (Mrs. Powel) who came to
her Steward’s (Uncle Tom’s) this afternoon.

Sep. 6. Both Bath Aunts and Maid set forth this
morning after breakfast for Bath where I hope they
will get safe. Thqr went in Old Down Chaise. I
took my leave of them this morning at Parsonage,
where my great Aunt treated me and others with
chocolate. . .

Sep. 7. I went out after breakfast, a coursing on
Mr. Francis’s Horse with Mr. Hindley and Mr. Ander-

78

1768

ton to S. Barrow, we killed a brace of young fine
hares .

Sep. 13. I caught 4 brace of Tench very fine ones out
of our Pond-Close this morning in less than an hour,
by my Father’s drag net, that I boriowed. Mr. Hind-
ley, Justice Creed and Sister Jane supped and spent
the evening with me at Lower House. I gave them
for dinner, a dish of Tench, Ham and Fowls, roasted
Leg of Mutton and an Apple Pudding. They had
Wine, Punch, Beer and Cyder to drink. At Quadrille
this evening with the above won — 2. o. I sent my
father a brace of the best Tench and alive . . .

I invited Dr. Clarke and wife to dine with me, but
they did not choose to come, not being agreeable.

Sep. 14. ... Sister Jane made a visit this afternoon
with her sister to the new married couple at Ansford
Inn. Mr. Hindley and Justice Creed called at
Parsonage this evening in their Chair to ask me to
dinner to-morrow to talk about going to Wells with
them Friday, concerning the Gallery work, to wait
on the Bishop, but I shall not go (I believe) nor
interfere at all concerning it, but to live peaceably
with all men. He is a little unreasonable to desire it,
as I must then fly in the face of allmost all my Parish-
ioners. Great and many are the divisions in C. Cary,
and some almost irreconcilable. Send us Peace
O Lord ! With Thee 0 Lord all things are possible.

Squire Creed’s man, for some reason, had been kept
out of the gallery by the singers and the Squire wanted
to have the gallery taken down.

Sep, 17. ... I dined, supped and spent the evening
at Justice Creed’s with him, his father and Mr Hind-

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1768

ley. Nothing transpired of what they did at Wells.
They behaved very respectively towards me. . .

Sep. 23. ... Russell of New Colb dined and spent the
afternoon with me at Lower House. He has lately
been presented to three Livings ^ worth
annum by Portman. I gave him for dinner a roasted
neck of Pork and some hashed Mutton . .

Sep. 24. ... My father had a letter from Brother John
at Taunton this evening, and in it one to Jenny, he
sent home for five guineas.

N. B. My father was very angrj' indeed with him,
as he had twenty pound of him when he went down
to Taunton. Such extravagant demands cannot but
hurt him greatly I wish with all mv heart he would
but consider.

Sep. 29. . I buried Tho® Roach of Bruton, who died

in the Small Pox there, a poor wild creature he has
been, this afternoon at C. Cary. I had a black silk
hat band and a p*" of black gloves sent me for burying
him by his good brother, who was at the expense in
burying him handsomely. He died not worth a
shilling, his brother supported him for some time.
His brother has behaved surprisingly kind to all his
relations, and is worth a good deal of money by his
diligence, goodness and benevolence.

Mrs. Carr and Miss Chambers [guests of Squire
Creed’s where the Diarist and his sister were dining]
did not behave quite so genteel to Jenny this evening
as I expected. . . .

Oct. 9. ... David Maby [also Church Warden] the
Clerk dined with us, being Sacrament Sunday.

Oct. 12. ... I walked this afternoon to Yarlmgton
and christened a child for Parson Capper, by name

^ For observations on pluralism see pp 38-9.

80

1768

Lucy. I drank tea this afternoon with Mrs. Gapper,
and her mother-in-law, old Mrs. Gapper aged 83
and a fine old lady she is indeed of her age.

Oct. 26. I had a poor little cat, that had one of her
ribs broke and that laid across her belly, and we could
not tell what it was, and she was in great pain. I
therefore with a small pen knife this morning, opened
one side of her and took it out, and performed the
operation very well, and afterwards sewed it up and
put Friars Balsam to it, and she was much better
after, the incision was half an inch. It grieved
me much to see the poor creature in such pain
before, and therefore made me undertake the above,
which I hope will preserve the life of the poor
creature.

Nov. 5. I read Prayers this morning at Cary being
the 5 of Novem the day on which the Papists had
contrived an hellish plot in the reign of King James
the first, but by the Divine hand of Providence was
fortunately discovered.

I dined supped and spent the evening at Parsonage.
The effigy of Justice Creed was had through the
streets of C. Cary this evening upon the [Fire]
Engine, and then had into the Park and burnt in
a bonfire immediately before the Justice’s House, for
his putting the Church Wardens of Cary into Wells
Court, for not presenting James Clarke for making
a Riot in the Gallery at Cary Church some few Sundays
back. The whole Parish are against the Justice, and
they intend to assist the Church Wardens in carrying
on the cause at Wells. The Justice is now at Lord
Pawletts at Hinton.

Nov. II. ... At Whist this evening with James
Clarke, Brother John and Brother Heighes, at which

81 G

1768

we laughed exceedingly, I lost with them in the whole

o* o* 6« • • •

Nov. 22. I married Tom Burge of Ansford to Charity
Andrews of C. Cary by License this morning. The
Parish of Cary made him marry her, and he came
handbolted to Church for fear of running away, and
the Parish of Cary was at all the expense of bringing
of them to, I rec^ of 3 Mr Andrew Russ the overseer
of the Poor of Cary for it o. lo. 6. . . .

Dec. I. ... Cousin Bob Woodforde I heard to-night
had got the Place that he stood for at Winchester,
which was an Apothecary to the County Hospital
of Hants, which I was very well pleased wdth, as
I wrote in his behalf.

Dec. 9 I paid Mr. Gay this morning, the Bath
Newsman for two little pamphlets he brought me
from Bath, namely High Life below Stairs and Low
Life above stairs — 2. o.

Dec. II. I read Prayers and preached this morning
at C. Cary C[hurch]. N.B. Justice Creed was at
Church and behaved very shy to me. . . .

[On Dec. 19. Old Mr. Will Burge ‘ desired me to
visit Mr. Creed soon ’.]

Dec. 24. ... It being Christmas Eve we had the New
Singers of C. Cary this evening at Parsonage, and
they having been at great expenses in learning to
sing, my Father and myself gave them double what
we used to do, and therefore instead of one shilling
we each gave o. 2. o.

Dec. 26. I was very bad in my throat all night, but
towards the morning was rather better, only extremely
hoarse. . . I could not go to read Prayers this morning
at Cary though it was St. Stephen, which I hope will
be forgiven. . . . Sister Jane visited me this morning,

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1769

and she being deaf and I not able to speak, was good
company. . . ,

1769. Jan. I. ... My ring which I had lost, was
unaccountably found m httle Sam: Clarke’s breeches,
he knowing nothing of it. I gave him o. i. o.

Jan. 2. We had the fine Mummers this evening at
Parsonage. . . .

He had been visiting a lot — the usual round of parties,
and on January 11 enters — *I am heartily weary of
visiting so much as I have, but if did not it would be
taken amiss in some ’.

On January 13 his mother’s estate, all in land and house
property at Ansford, is divided into three lots and he and
Sister Jane and Brother John draw the lots out of a hat.

On January 23 he goes to Bath on horseback with his
boy George. They stay at the Bear Inn till January 27
when they return to Ansford via Radstock. At Bath
he sees his great aunt, and his friends Squire Farr, his
wife, and daughter. He does the usual Bath round —
the Pump Room, a ball at Simpson’s Rooms ‘ very
elegant indeed makes various visits to old friends of
his Father in a ‘ Chair ’. He sees ‘ The Clandestine
Marriage’ at the Play House. He visits the Octagon
Church in Milsom Street and does not approve ; ‘ It
is a handsome building, but not like a place of worship,
there being fire-places in it, especially on each side of the
Altar, which I cannot think at all decent, it is not liked.’

On February 3 he gives a large supper party at the
Lower House followed by a dance. The music was a bass
viol and a violin j those ladies who did not dance played
at quadrille. * I danced a Minuet with Mrs. and Miss
Melliar, and a few Country Dances with Miss Aggy
Clarke and Miss Plummer.’

83 G 2

1769

The company were well pleased with their entertain-
ment : he gave them an excellent supper which included
Veal Cutlets, Oysters, ‘ a very fine large Ham Tarts, &c.,
Punch, Wine, Beer, and Cyder.

Feb. 5. From henceforth O Lord give me grace to
walk m thy ways more circumspectly than I have
done lately.

On February 9 a meeting at the George Inn of some
of the leading Cary parishioners including the Diarist
composes the approaching Law Suit between Justice
Creed and the Church Wardens, the agreement (this
proposal had been rejected two days before) being ‘ that
as the Gallery at Cary Church was large enough to
contain between 3 & 4 score people, and the Singers
being not above 30 in number that there should be a
partition made in the gallery for the Singers, and the
other part open to any body and also for Mr. Creed to
pay his own costs and the Parish the other ’

Feb. II. ... Jack and I had a few words this evening
at tower House and indeed I was more to blame
than him, being passionate. Keep me O Lord from
Passions of every kind pro future.

Jack refuses to breakfast at the Lower House on account
of this. On February 19 he enters ‘ Jack’s stomach is
not come down yet to breakfast at L.H. He breakfasts
now at Parsonage ’. However, he returns to breakfast
at L.H. on February 22.

Feb. 26. ... The 36 Psalm was sung this afternoon
in Cary Church by the Singers. Done out of Pique

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1769

to old WiUm. Buige.^ Old Mr. Bulge concerns
himself too much with the Singers.

On February 19 old Burge had annoyed the singers
by sending some persons into the singing pait of the gallery
contrary to the recent agreement.

March 7. . Poor Mrs. Pearce (Miss Rooke that was)

is no more, she died yesterday, she met I am afraid
with a bad husband.

March 10. One Farmer Wittys of Butly whom I
never saw but once before called upon me this
morning, and desired me to lend him thirty Pound,
but it was not convement — ^Very odd indeed. . . .

On March ii Brother John is advanced
cash, 95 guineas and 5 shillings, by his father to enable
him to stock his share of his mother’s estate, which he is
going to manage himself

March 12. I read Prayers and preached this morning
at Ansford Church. I read prayers and preached this
afternoon at C. Cary Church.

Mem : As I was gomg to shave myself this morning
as usual on Sundays, my razor broke in my hand as
I was setting it on the strop without any violence.
May it be always a warning to me not to shave
on the Lord’s Day or do any other work to profane
it pro future.

I dined, supped and spent the evenmg at Parsonage.

On April 5 he notes that a serving boy is not enough,

^ ‘ My heart sheweth me the wickedness of the ungodly that there
IS no fear of God before his eyes . . He imagmeth mischief upon his
bed, and hath set himself in no good way ; neither doth he abhor any-
thing that IS evil ’ (Psalm xiavi. Prayer Book version).

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1769

now Brother John is taking his share of the estate, so
George Green becomes their new servant ; John pays his
wages and the Diarist keeps him.

April 8. ... I buried a little boy of Willm. Speeds this
evening at Ansford, who died of the Evil aged 13 . . .

May 2 ... Brother John went to Gannards Grave

tins morning to see a famous Boxing match between
Parfitt Maggs and one Darck a Londoner and the
Londiner [sic] beat Maggs.

May 14. ... I wore my gown and cassock for the first
time this year.

May 27. ... Dr. Clarke had a letter this evening from
Baron Dimsdale at Hartford, who is lately returned
from Russia, from inoculating the Empress and Grand
Duke there, and with success. He gave the Dr a
fine description of the Empress.^

May 29. ... I read Prayers this morning at C. Cary,
being 29 of May the R^toration of King Charles II
from Popish Tyranny. . . . Jack brought home with
him from Ansford Inn [where there had been ‘ great
cock fighting ’], after 10 o’clock this evening. .

Dr. John Graunt, Mr. James Graunt, Joseph Wilmot,
and Janes, all of Ditchet, which supped and stayed
till 3 in y* morning, quite low life sort of people,
much beneath Jack. I really wonder Jack keeps such
mean company. . . .

June 3. ... The transit of Venus over the face of the
Sun I saw this evening between seven and eight
o’clock at Mr. Clarke’s. It appeared as a black patch
upon a fair Lady’s face. It will not happen again
they say, till the year 1874. . . . During the transit
it was remarkably cold indeed. . . .

^ See pp. 76-7 preceding.

86

1769

Between June 9th and i6th the Diarist is ill with
a violent rash on hk face, hands, breast, arms, &c., and
all the symptoms, as he describes them, of scarlet fever
or measles : sore throat, headache, weak eyes, fever.
Dr. Clarke, however, merely tells him to keep warm
indoors and eat as much as he likes, ‘ not to live low,
but encourage the rash ’. All this time he sees relations
and friends constantly, and after some strong purges
he IS well again and out on the i6th.

June 17. ... Jack made a terrible noise at Lower

House with all the folks there. I got up out of my
bed and came down at twelve at night and found the
house in an uproar. Jack abusing of them all in a
terrible manner. Very bad work indeed of a Saturday
mght in a Parson’s House, it disturbed me all night.

N.£. We must part

On June 19 he notes that Jack ‘ made a riot ’ at the
Parsonage ‘ bemg in want of money

June 21. ... I played with Mr. James Clarke at

Battledor and Shuttlecock, and we kept the cock up
once upwards of 500 times

On June 27 he goes to Oxford to be ‘ sworn in Poser
to Winton Coll next Elect ’. He is duly sworn on
June 29. He goes back via Stonehenge ‘ to show my man
the great Stones there’ and arrives at home on the
1st July On July 4 he sups with Justice Creed, whom
he had not seen since the gallery trouble, except by
accidental meeting, and was ‘very graciously received
by them ’.

July 18. ... For two three Pound and twelve shilling

87

1769

Pieces of Miss Rooke this morning at* Lowei House,
gave her Seven new guineas of George the Third,
the present King of England.

He and his sister and Miss Rooke (who is staying at
the Parsonage) went all the w'ay to Stock in Dorsetshire,
1 8 miles away post-chaise, to see little Jenny White
because her mother w'as anxious about her. She was
staying with the Farrs and they found ‘ the little maid
very hearty and well’. They went unknown to Sister
White ‘ who was greatly rejoiced at our excursion when
she knew it

July 29 ... I drank tea this afternoon with Dr Arnold
and Dr Clarke at Justice Creed’s with him and his
father. Dr. Arnold is a mighty, sensible, agreeable
and affable man.

Aug. I. ... Alexander, the Window Surveyor of the
Hundred of Catsashe and who lives at Someiton
with Dav^ Maby the Collector viewed the windows
at Lower House this afternoon, and he brought m
one window more than usual.^

Aug. 7. ... I thank God ! My Sister White was this
morning about 9, brought to bed of a fine little maid
and is brave in her condition. Blessed be God for
all his mercies to us. . . .

Aug. 10. ... N.B. I invited Dr. Clarke and Mr. White,
and neither came either to dinner or supper. I think
to return the Compt. to Dr Clarke, as for Mr. White
he was detained involuntarily.

On August 19th he notes that his father gave back
to Jack all his ‘notes of hand’ ;^3i9, &c. + £180, &c.

* See pp 57-8 preceding
88

1769

besides, making £s^ ‘ he designed foi

him

On August 28 he goes to Oxford preparatory to going
to Winchester to act as Poser at the Election of Scholars
for New College, September 5-8. The Diarist giv^
a very full account of the manner of the election, but for
lack of space we are unable to transcribe it here.

He reaches Ansford again on September 9.

Sep. 20. ... Jack went to Sherborne this morning
with Andrew Russ and bought a Lottery ticket,
number 36,739 for ^^15. i. 6. Jenny and myself are
to have share in it as promised. . . . [But, alas ! on
Nov. 23 they are notified that the ticket was drawn
a blank.]

Lotteries were held in England under authority as
early as the sixteenth century. During the whole of the
eighteenth century they were very commonly sanctioned
by Act of Parliament, the prizes being in the form of
annuities. The Government reaped a handsome revenue,
running into several hundreds of thousands of pounds,
from these State lotteries. They were, however, sup-
pressed in 1826. Lovers of Charles Lamb will remember '
a delightful reference in an essay to the interest and excite-
ment of a lottery, and the beautiful but vanishing vision
of wealth it held out.

Sep. 22. ... Great rejoicings at Cary to-day being
the Coronation Day. Beils ringing all day, Cudgell
playing at Crokers, a very large bonfire on the top
of the hill and very grand fireworks in the evening
with firing of many guns. All at Mr. Creed’s,
Mr. Hindley and Mr. Potts and Duck’s expense.

89

1769

I was at all. At the Cudgell Playing I gave o. 4. 5.
The fireworks were sent from London and were
Sky-Rocketts, Mines, Trees, Crackers, Wheels and
divers Indian Fireworks. Old Mrs. Burge and
daughter etc., etc., etc., drank tea and coffee, supped
and spent the evening at Justice Creed’s. We did
not break up till near two in the morning. E^ery-
thing extremely handsome and polite indeed

Sep. 23. Great doings again to-day at Cary in the
Park. At one o’clock there was a shift run for by
women. There were five that started for it, and won
by Willm. Francis’s daughter Nan of Ansford — ^her
sister Pegg was second and therefore had ribbands.
I never saw the Park so full of people in my life.
The Women were to run the best of three half
mile Heats : Nan Francis run a Heat in three
minutes. . . .

Oct. 1. ... I read Prayers, churched a woman [and]
read the Act of Parliament against profane swearing
as directed by Law. . .

Oct. 18. After breakfast went with Mr Creed in
his Chair to Wells with a great possy from Cary to
attend at the County Meeting to consider of a proper
Petition [concerning the late violation of the freedom
of Election] to his Majesty in the present crisis of
Affairs. We went to the Swan, where we dined with
upwards of a hundred Gentlemen of the first rank in
the County. We had a very respectable meeting on
this occasion. Mr. Coxe, Mr. Smith, Members for
Bath, Mr. AHeft, Member for Bridgwater, Mr. Sey-
mour, Mr. Creed and Mr. Sansom and Revd. Mr,
Wainhouse spoke on the occasion upon the Petitions
that were presented to the Publick. Mr, Coxe’s
Petition with some alteration was approved of most,

90

1769

and agreed in the Town Hall to be presented to his
Majesty by proper Persons. - . .

Britons never will be slaves was played during
dinner. . . .

This reference to the ‘ late Violation of the freedom
of election ’ is of course to the famous Wilkes case. Ever
since 1763, when John Wilkes (1727-97), then a Member
of Parliament, had proceeded in his journal, the North
Briton^ from violent attacks on the King’s Minister, Bute,
to.an attack on the King himself, he had been an exceed-
ingly popular figure. The Secretary of State, Lord
Halifax, had caused him and his papers to be seized, and
though his imprisonment was declared illegal and he was
released he found it safer to fly to France. He was then
outlawed. In 1768 he came back and was immediately
elected as its representative in the new House of Commons
by the County of Middlesex. But he was still under
sentence of outlawry and was imprisoned. Reference
has already been made (in the Diary) to the Riots of
May 10, 1768, on account of this imprisonment. Shortly
after this he was released only to be imprisoned again
on the count of libel. Meanwhile the House of Commons,
packed as it was with the King’s friends, corrupt and
unrepresentative, expelled him. Twice running Middle-
sex again returned him. The House tyrannically quashed
both Elections, declared that Wilkes was incapable of
sitting in the present Parliament and that the minority
candidate, Colonel Luttrell, should sit as the representa-
tive for Middlesex. No wonder the Diarist and the good
country gentlemen of Somerset discoursed their dinner
at Wells to the strident accompaniment of * Britons
never will be slaves ’. For they realized that George III
was gradually furbishing up that old, over-weening,

91

1769

royal prerogative which had led to the Revolution of
1688, and that the House of Commons in its present
form represented not the country but the King. And for
the time the King won. From 1770-82 he and Lord
North misruled England and lost America. But thence-
forth the royal wings were clipped, and Wilies in the
latter year at last succeeded in carrying through the
House of Commons his motion expunging from the
lecords the old resolutions of expulsion.

Oct. 29. ... I privately baptised Fanny Collin’s child
this morning at Parsonage when I came from Cary
Church, by name Michael.

Nov. 4. ... I received of Miss Rooke this afternoon
the sum of one Hundred Pounds, for which I gavfe
hci my note of hand to pay on her demand with
lawful Interest for the same, and Sister Jane was
a Witness to it . . .

Nov. 12. I read Prayers and preached this moinmg
at C. Cary Church. I was disturbed this morning
at Cary Church by the Singers. I sent my Clerk
some time back to the Cary Singers, to desire that
they would not sing the Responses in the Communion
Service, which they complied with for several Sundays,
but this morning after the first Commandment they
had the Impudence to sing the Response, and there-
fore I spoke to them out of my desk, to say and not
sing the Responses which they did after, and at other
places they sang as usual. The Singers in the Gallery
were, John Coleman, the Baker, Jonathan Croker,
Will® Pew Junr., Tho* Penny, Will® Ashford, Hooper
the Singing Master, James Lucas, Peter, Mr. Francis’s
man, Mr. Melliar’s man James, Farmer Hix’s son,
Robert Sweete and the two young Durnfords.

92

« * •

1769

Nov. 13. ... We had news this morning of Mr Wilkes
gaining his point against Lord Halifax and 4000 pound
damages given him. Cary and Ansford bells rung
most part of the day on the occasion. Miss Rooke,
Jenny, Mr. Richard Clarke Junr., Brother Heighes
and Brother John dined, supped and spent the evening
with me. I gave them for dinner a couple of rabbits
smothered with onions, a roasted leg of mutton and
some mince pies.

The reference ‘ to Mr. Wilkes gaining his point against
Lord Halifax ’ is to the conclusion of the long-drawn-out
action — ^it had been dragging on vsiith deliberate ministerial
postponements for six years — ^in which Wilkes had sued
Lord Halifax for the seizure of his papers in 1763.

The verdict was given on November lo, 1769. Doubt-
less the Diarist and his relations and friends dining
together on the 13th, the day the news reached Somerset,
consumed those ‘ rabbits smothered with onions ’ with
a very particular rehsh.

Nov. 20. ... Brother Heighes and John dined etc.,
at Lower House again, and they kept me up till
2 in the morning being very quarrelsome especially
my brother John.

N. B. It is too much indeed for me.

Nov. 21. ... My brother spent the evening at the
Angel at Cary and returned very much disguised in
liquor, and stayed up late.

Nov. 26. I read Prayers and Preached this mornmg
at C. Cary Church. N.B. No singing this morn-
ing, the Singers not being at Church, they being
highly affronted with me at what I lately had
done. ...

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1769

Dec. 17. ... The Singers at Cary did not please me
this afternoon by singing the 12 Psalm, New Version,^
reflecting upon some People. . . . Some people have
been about my Father’s house again this evening,
about 8 o’clock. Jenny and the maid being at the
Little House, some person or another came to the
door of it and rapped against it three times with a
stick. What it means I know not. Brother Haghes,
Jack and myself all armed, took a walk at twelve this
evening round the Parish to see if we could meet any
idle Folks but we did not, and therefore came home
about two. We waited at my Father’s some consider-
able time, till Brother Heighes was very uneasy, being
cold in his feet.

Dec. 23. To a fatted goose at nine pence per pound
pd. — 2. 9.

Dec. 24. To Cary Singers this evening being Xmas
Eve at Parsonage after giving them a Lecture con-
cerning their late behaviour in Church, on promise
of amendment gave o. 2. o.

On December 27 he has some poor Ansford people to
dinner, and sends ‘ some victuals ’ to other poor persons,
and in addition gives a shilling each and a loaf ‘ being
Xmas time’. He also entertained several of his near
relations at dinner ; ‘ I had a noble Surloin of Beef
rosted and a plumb pudding boiled for dinner ’.

^ ‘ Help me, Lord, for there is not one godly man left for the faithful
are mimshed from among the children of men

‘They talk of vamty every one with his neighbour they do but
flatter with their lips, and dissemble m their double heart

‘ The ungodly walk on every side when they are eaalted, the children
of men are put to rebuke.’ — ^Psalm xii (Prayer Book version).

95

1770

1 770- Jan. ii. ... I dined, spent the afteinoon and
part of the evening at Mr. Creeds . . . and there saw
the King’s last speech, which he spoke in Parliament
last Tuesday, which is not at all satisfactory. . . .

The King’s speech on opening the Session of Parliament
on Januarj' 9, 1770, began as follows ^

‘ My Lords and Gentlemen • — It is vi ith much concern
that I find myself obliged to open the Session of Parlia-
ment, with acquainting you, that the distemper among
the Horned Cattle has lately broke out in this Kingdom,
notwithstanding every precaution that could be used for
preventing the infection from foreign parts. . ’

After this curious and, indeed, ridiculous opening the
King proceeded to state that ‘ it has always been my fixed
purpose to preserve the general tranquillity, maintaining
at the same time, the dignity and honour of my crown,
together with the just rights and interests of my people

He passed on to observe on ‘ the state of my govern-
ment in America ’ where ... * many persons have em-
barked in measures highly unwarrantable, and calculated
to destroy the commercial connexion between them
and the Mother Country ’. He concluded with a brief
exhortation to the House of Commons to grant any
necessary supplies, and * to cultivate that spirit of har-
mony which becomes those who have but one common
object in view ’ . . .

Not a word did he utter on the burning question of
the day — ^liberty of election — though Lord Chatham was
not slow to pound the Government thereon. We cannot
wonder that our Diarist as an ardent supporter of Wilkes
and Constitutional Liberty was disgusted, and that his
disgust was widely shared is proved by the fact that the

^ Parltamentary History, vol. xvj, pp. 642-4.

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1770

Session came to be mockingly nicknamed ‘ The Horned

Cattle Session

Jan. 14. ... Mrs. Melliar sent a note to my Sister
Jane this afternoon to desire her and my Brother
John to spend the evening with her to-morrow.^
Brother Heighes and myself were both excepted
out of it.

Jan. 19. ... I dined upon a roasted Pigg and spent the
afternoon at Mr. Creed’s with him and his Father.
It was very kind of him to send to me. To Mr.
Creed’s servant maids, Sarah and Unity, gave o. 2. o.

Jan. 22. . . . For a Summons Warrant against Robt.
Biggin and his brother Nathamel ... for shrowding
an Ash Tree of my Sister Jane Woodforde’s last
Thursday night, to appear before the Justice, next
Friday at 2 aft. pd. o. o. 6

Jan. 23. ... I sent the Summons Warrant this after-
noon by Wm. Corpe to the Tithing man, Tho®
Taylor and it was served this evening.

Jan. 24. I was sent for just at dinner time to Sutton
about a mile of, to go and read Prayers by a poor
young woman, Sally Bond that was, and who married
Farmer Wittick of Sutton, being very ill ever since
she laid in, and now more likely to die than hve. She
was quite light headed and therefore very melancholy
to behold. I also privately named her Infant by
name, Sarah. . . .

Jan. 26. At two o’clock this afternoon I went up to
Justice Creed’s and heard my Wood Stealers examined
before the Justice. Robert Biggm was found guilty
and his brother Nath* was acquitted, therefore
Robert was ordered to pay me six shillings by the

i Very rude written in margin,

97

u

1770

9 of February, if he does not he is to be whipped
from Cary Cross to Ansford Inn
Feb 12. ... I went to Mr. Will™ Melliar’s and Mr.
Creed’s and Mr. Clarke’s to desire all three of them
to drink a dish of coffee with me this afternoon at
Lower House and if possible to reconcile all animosities
m Caiy and to stop and put an end to all Law Suits
now' subsisting. It was agreeable to all Parties for
Mr. Creed and Mr. Melliar to settle all matters and
to make Peace Mr. Creed and Mr. Melliar agreed
to meet each other this afternoon at my house. I
dined and spent part of the afternoon at Mr. Creed’s
with him and his Father, and after the Justice took
a walk with me to my house and drank a dish of coffee
with me. Mr. Will™ Melliar and Dr Clarke also
drank a dish of coffee with me and after coffee we
talked over the Parish Affairs. After much altei cation
it was settled for Peace. The terms were these as
underwritten. . .

That all Prosecutions between the contending
parties in the Parish of Castle Cary, and all ani-
mosities between the Houses of Creed and Melliar,
should from that time cease, and be buried in the
Gulf of Oblivion. . . . After the above [numerous
technical details of settlement of Prosecution costs
etc., etc.] was agreed to by all four and Mr. Melliar
had made a Memorandum of it in writing, Mr. Creed
and Mr. Melliar hobbed and nobbed in a glass of
Wine and drank success to Peace. . .

Jack came home a little merry this evening and he
laid me a wager of one guinea that he would not from
this night get drunk all the year 1770, that is, as not
to be able to tread a Scratch. . . .

Feb. 13. ... To a wager with Brother Heighes that

98

1770

he could not walk the Scratch this night at lo o’clock,
lost o. o. 6.

Feb. 28. ... I buried poor Tho® Barnes this afternoon
[who had been ‘ a long time kilhng himself by
Liquor ’] at Cary, aged 48. A great many people
attended him to his grave. He was, I believe, no
man’s enemy, but to himself a great one. . . .

March 8. ... Very unsuspected news from Miss Rooke
from Somerton this evening.

April i8. . . I dined at old Mr. Will™ Burge’s being
the day of Mr. Wilkes’s enlargement, and spent the
afternoon and former part of this evening there with
old Mr. Will™ Burge etc., etc. . . . Cary bells ring all
day upon the occasion Two British Flaggs also
displayed, one at Cary Cross and another on Cary
Tower. A hogshead of Cyder given to the Populace
at the Cross. Many loyal toasts and worthy men
drank upon the occasion, and Mr. Burge’s house
handsomely illuminated in the evening. The Flagg
on the Tower had on it Liberty and Property, the
small one had on it Mr. Wilkes’s Head and Liberty.
Everything was conducted with great decorum and
broke up in good time. We had for dinner [apparently
for 15 people] a boiled Rump Beef 45 pd. weight,
a Ham and half a dozen Fowls, a roasted Saddle of
Mutton, two very rich puddings, and a good Sallet
with a fine cucumber . . . [see pp. 91-2 preceding].

On May 10 he notes the death of old Mrs. Gapper
(at the age of 84) mother of the Parson, whom he
bunes at Yarlington on May 16, receiving ‘ a black
silk Hatband and p*' of gloves ’.

May 19. ... Something very agreable and with which
I was greatly pleased happened this evening. It gave

99 H 2

1770

me much secret pleasure and satisfaction. [The
Diarist does not anywhere reveal what this was.]

May 26. ... Brother John spent his evening at Cary,
came home merry, and kept me up very late and also
made me very uneasy. Brother Heighes was also
quite happy again this evening It is at present a \ ery
disagreeable way of living for me.

Between May 14 and June 6 Cary enjoyed the
presence of a theatrical company who acted in the Court
House and attracted large audiences. Amongst the plays
performed were ^he Beggars^ Opera, Hamlet, Richard
the 7 htrd, and various other plays and ‘Entertainments’,
including one called Chtononhotonthologos.

June 7. . . Mr. Hindley, Mr. Hayes, the Justice and
myself drank coffee this afternoon with Mrs. Mclliar
at Mr. Will™ Melliar’s with the Countess of Ilchestcr,
Counsellor Melliar etc., etc.

June 9. Mr. Browning one of the Players who came
this morning to cut my Brother John’s Hair, being
a Tonsor, Mr. John Perry of Hatspen, who came to
buy the heifers of Jack, and Mr. Perry Landlord of
Ansford Inn all breakfasted with me this morning
at L. House on Tea.^ ...

June 27. ... This very day I am thirty years of age. —
‘ Lord make me truly thankful for thy great goodness
as on this day shewed me by bringing me into this
world, and for preserving me to this day from the
many and great dangers which frail mortality is every
day exposed to , grant me O Lord the continuance
of thy divine goodness to me, that thy Holy Spirit
may direct me in all my doings and that the remaining

^ A luxury, being very expensive.

100

1770

part of my days may be more spent to thy Honour
and Glory than those already past.’ . . .

July 4. After breakfast walked up to Justice Creed’s
and about 8 o’clock went with the Justice in his Chair
to Horsington and made Mr. and Mrs. Spencer there
a morning visit who were both at home with their
two sons and five daughters, the two eldest Miss
Spencers are very fine young Ladies about 15 years
old. The eldest entertained us upon the Guitar and
sang charmingly with it. Mr. Spencer has a noble
house and everything in the neatest manner. . .

July 12. ... Took a walk in the evening with Sister
Clarke, Jenny Clarke, Sam: Clarke, Nancy Clarke,
Sister Jane and Brother Heighes. I gave them all
a peep through my fine spying gla.ss, to see King
Alfred’s Tower, now erecting by Mr. Hoare on
the very highest part of Kingsettle Hill about 7
miles of.

July 15. I read Prayers and preached at Cary Church
and whilst I was preaching one Tho“ Speed of Gall-
hampton came into the Church quite drunk and crazy
and made a noise in the Church, called the Singers
a Pack of Whoresbirds and gave me a nod or two in
the pulpit. The Constable Roger Coles Sen'’ took
him into custody after and will have him before
a Magistrate to-morrow. . .

Aug. I ... I dined and spent the afternoon at
Justice Creed’s with him, his Father, Lord and Lady
Paulett, and their two sons. Lord Hinton and Master
Vere Paulett, who are both going to Twyford School
in Buckinghamshire kept by Mr Cleaver

Lord and Lady and sons are very affable, good
natured People. . . .

Aug. 28. For Pope’s Works, 10 volumes of Brother

loi

1770

Heighes this evening, I gave him, and they were
second hand and thiid i i. o ...

Sep. 5. . . The Duke and Duchess of Beaufort in

a coach and six went through the Parish this after-
noon in their road to Weymouth. Parson Penny
[their chaplain] was with them and went with
them. . .

On September 9 he notes that he goes with his sister
Jane in their father’s chaise to drink coffee with Justice
Creed, the Diarist being dressed ‘in my Gown and
Cassock — It was Sunday.

Octob 4. ... The Duke and Dutchess of Beaufort
and children whom Mr. Penny is with most part of
his time, are all to sleep at Ansford Inn to-riight,
it being their road from Weymouth to Badminton. . .

Oct. 12. ... Mrs. Carr, Miss Chambers, Mr. Hindley,
Mr. Carr, and Sister Jane dined, supped and spent
the evening wdth me, and we were very merry. I
gave them for dinner a dish of fine Tench which
I caught out of my brother’s Pond in Pond Close
this morning, Ham, and 3 Fowls boiled, a Plumb
Pudding ; a couple of Ducks rested, a roasted neck
of Pork, a Plumb Tart and an Apple Tart, Pears,
Apples and Nutts after dinner ; White Wine and red.
Beer and Cyder. Coffee and Tea m the evening at
SIX o’clock. Hashed Fowl and Duck and Eggs and
Potatoes etc. for supper. We did not dine till four
o’clock — ^nor supped till ten. Mr. Rice, a Welshman
who is lately come to Cary and plays very well on the
Triple Harp, played to us after coffee for an hour or
two . . . the Company did not go away till near twelve
o’clock. . . . My Father’s maid Betty dressed my

102

1770

dinner etc. with my People. The dinner and supper
were extremely well done and well set of.

On October 23 he and his brothers take a party
to a dance at Ansford Inn, the music being Mr. Rice’s
Harp. . . . ‘ My partner was the eldest Miss Francis,
she dances but poorly and says but little ; ’ however
they spent a ‘ very agreeable afternoon and evening ’,
and did not return home till ‘ near two o’clock ’. On
December 27 he gave his usual Xmas dinner to some poor
Parishioners . . ‘to dine with me ’ and gave them his
usual shilling, and a sixpenny loaf apiece. His Father is
now far from well, and on December 30 he administers
the Sacrament to him at the Parsonage as he is not well
enough to go to church.

He gives a dinner and supper party on January 5 th
at the Lower House followed by a dance . . . ‘ the
Company seemed very well pleased with their entertain-
ment I treated them with my large wax Candle ’. On
January 8 he and his brothers organized a ball at Ansford
Inn, ‘ where we had a very genteel Hop and did not
break up till three in the morning’. The company,
besides ‘ myself and Mrs. Farr who opened the Ball ’,
consisted of three other Parsons, Squire Creed and the
usual Cary celebrities.

1771. Jan. 10. ... Brother John was greatly astonished
by a light this evening as he came thro’ Orchards, a field
by Ansford Church, which hght seemed to follow him
close behind all the way through that field, and which
he could not account for. I hope it is no Omen of
death in the Family. N.B. The Reflection of the snow
I apprehend occasioned the light that my Brother saw.

Jan. 16. . Extreme hard frost with a cutting wind

103

1771

It was allowed by my Father and Aunt Anne this
afternoon that the weather now is as severe as it
was in the year 1740. . . .

Jan. 20. ... My Poor Father rather worse than better.
He wastes very fast. . . . Brother John is I am afraid
coming into his old complaint the Stone, having
some bad symptoms of it today. If it is I pray God
that he may bear it with Christian Patience and
Resignation He has not been I am afraid so thankful
as he should have been to Almighty God for his
former deliverance from the same. Things in our
Family at present look but melancholy, pray God have
mercy on us all and forgive us our sins. . . .

On January 22 he (on horseback) accompanies his
Father to Bath, who goes in the Ansford Inn Chaise
with his faithful old maid : they hoped the Bath waters
would do the old man good.

They get rooms at Trimm Street near Beaufort Squaie.
‘ For a dining room, a bedchamber, and for a little closet
in the bedchamber for the maid to sleep in my Father is
to give, being out of the season, per week o. 19. o.’ In
the season he would have had to pay 25s. apparently.
The Diarist himself sleeps at the White Lion. Next
day, January 23, Dr. Moysey prescribes ‘ an opening
draught . . . and to drink the Bath waters three times a day
. . . and to drink it in the Pump Room, viz to go there
after it. My Father gave him a guinea for prescribing
as usual. The Doctor seems high and mighty but sensible.
My Father’s disorder is thought to be an irregular gout.
I dined, supped and spent the evemng with my Father.
We had a-rosted fowls for dinner which we brought
with us. ... ’ Next day, January 24, the Diaiist returns
to Ansford.

104

1771

Jan. 26. ... I sent a basket of things to my Father this
morning, with a Barrell of Cyder, and a letter by
the Bath Newsman. I dined, supped and spent the
evening at Parsonage with Jenny Clarke and Sister
Jane. We were very agreeable and merry. Sister
Jane took a vomit this evening by Dr. Clarke’s order,
she having not been right for some time — Bumps on
her face etc. . .

On January 28 he went to Bath to see his father, whom
he found getting on well. He plays Backgammon with
his father, does the usual Bath round, a ball, play, coffee
drinking, &c., &c., and returns on February I.

Feb 10 (Sunday) . Brother John and Andrew Russ
stayed at Parsonage this evening till after 12 o’clock,
then came to the Lower House, and after Andrew Russ
went home. Brother John being very full in Liquor
at two o’clock in the morning, made such an intoler-
able noise by swearing in so terrible a manner and so
loud, that it disturbed me out of sound sleep being
gone to bed, and was so shocked at it that I was
obliged to get up to desire him to go to bed, but all
my arguments and persuasions were in vain, and he
kept me up till five in the morning and then I went
to bed and he went on Horseback for Bath. It was
an exceeding cold night and very hard frost, and at
seven o’clock in the morning snowed very hard.
O that Jack was in some way of business, and that his
life was something better and more religious, for in
the morning whilst I was at Church, he was shooting.

On February 14 his father returns from Bath with
Brother John, ‘ but very little better for the waters ’.

los

1771

Feb. 19- • My Father was brave and in good spirits
this morning, but in the evening was as bad as ever
and talked very moving to Sister Jane and me about
his Funeral and that he wanted to altei his Will,
and mentioned the underwritten to me and my
Sister Jane, ‘ that he desired that his maid [Eliz.
Clothierjshould have that house where Grace Stephens
lives at present during her life, and after her life
to go to my sister Jane, as well as aU the other Poor
Houses and Mrs. Parr’s House and the Field called
Four Acres to her my Sister Jane. That Sister White
has one Hundred Pounds to make her equal to her
Sister Clarke in Fortune. That I have all his Books
and Book-case m his Study. And that he would
have no people invited to his funeral to make a show,
but that he is carried to Ansford Church by six of
his poor neighbours, Robin Francis and his Brother
Thomas were mentioned and that they have half
a crown a-piece. — ^To be laid in the vault where my
Mother is, by her side And that a little monument
be erected in the side wall near the vault in memory
of him and his wife’. My poor Father is I think
much in the same way as my poor Mother was. Pray
God to bless him and keep him, and give us all strength
to bear so sore an affliction as such a separation must
occasion, if it be thy Divine will to remove him from
us — O God whenever such an event happens take him
to thyself, and give us grace to follow his good examples,
that with him we may deserve to be Partakers of thy
Heavenly Kingdom. Grant him O Lord an easy
and happy exit. Better Parents no children ever had
than we have been blessed with — blessed be God for
It — ^and make us more worthy than we are, for all
thy goodness to us. Praise the Lojrd O my Soul,

io6

1771

and forget not ail his Benefits — ^Thou hast not dealt
with us after our sins, nor rewarded us according to
our wickedness — Praise thou the Lord O my Soul.

I played at Back Gammon with my Father in the
evening, it takes him in some degree off from thinking
of his Pain. I won — o. 6.

On March 13 he writes to Mrs Powel at Harding,
near St. Albans, Herts, to apply for the livings of Cary
and Ansford in case his Father should die. March 18
he had another disturbed night. Brothers John and
Heighes sat up drinking with Captain Pompier and
Mr. Goldsborough, a Midshipman, all drunk : * They
drank 3 bottles of Wine and near 20 quarts of Cyder.’
March 23 Dr. Dixon of Taunton who ‘ seems a mighty
sensible affable man ’ comes to see his father and receives
a fee of ^£5 5^ : he ‘ does not doubt he shall do my Father
great good ’. March 28 Mrs. Powel replies to his letter
promising him Cary living but saying nothmg of Ansford.

March 31 Brother John again came home drunk and
greatly disturbed him ; he enters : ‘ It is most unhappy
the life that I am obliged at present to lead.’ Again
on April 4 ‘ Jack bullied and behaved to me as usual, when
so very few I believe would bear half which I do. I hope
one day or another it will be something better.’

On April 9 his Father is ‘ much worse than ever, he
groans very loud indeed. Pray God release him from
his Pains which are acute ’. Dr. Clarke gives him liquid
laudanum to compose him. April 1 1 he notes the extreme
cold ‘ never such weather known by any person living at
present ’. April 14 his brothers are again drunk, ‘ Most
intolerable noises all night, it was almost impossible to
sleep. . . . Such a Sunday night again may I never feel
or see Our house at Lower House is the worst in the

107

1771

Parish or any other Parish. It grieves me to see it
And again on April 26 ‘ Jack was worse tonight than ever
I knew him. ... I never heard a man swear like him and
for so long together Pray God to turn his heart soon,
for I dread the consequences
On April 30. ‘ My poor dear Father very bad this
afternoon, almost choked with Phlegm m his stomach,
which I am afraid is the Rattles and a foreboding of his
speedy departure hence, which it it is, O God receive
his soul into thy everlasting Kingdom.’ On the same day
he enters that his cousin Tom Woodforde sends a basket
to the Parsonage with these presents, ‘ a couple of
Pidgeons, some electuary for Aunt Parr, some spirit of
Lavender for Aunt Anne, and a Pot of Confectio Cardiaca
for my Father On May 9 a two days’ Cock fight
between Somerset and Wilts at Ansford Inn ended m
the victory of Somerset — ‘ Wilts was beat shamefully.
I believe my Brother John won a good deal of money
at It’. On May 15 his Aunt Parr dies. ‘No woman
ever could like a Person more than she did my good
Father ; and she daily prayed to depart this life before
him, and it pleased God to hear her prayers and take
her.’

May 16. ... My Poor Father worse than ever a great
deal, and altered greatly after 12 at night, and in
great agonies all the morning ; and it pleased the
Almighty Creator to deliver him out of all his Pam
and Trouble in this world about | an hour after
one o’clock at noon, by taking him to himself —
blessed therefore be the name of the Lord. — It is
the Lord, let him do what seemeth him good. The
Lord gave and the Lord hath taken away, blessed
be the name of the Loid. Have mercy upon us

108

1771

O Lord, miserable sinners — and send us comfort
from above.

The Diarist was left sole executor of all his Father’s
real and personal property left between him. Brother
John, and Sister Jane.

May 17. ... My Brother John, myself and Sister Jane,
examined this morning, my poor Father’s Bureau etc.
at Parsonage and we found in Cash in all the places
the sum of 518.9:6; Mortgages, Bonds and Notes
of Hand 533 : i6 : o. . . . I sent poor old Alice Stacy
by her daughter this morning to cheer up her spirits
a little, o-i-o. The poor creature begged most
heartily to sit up with my Poor Father, all night,
which she did with Christian speed.

On May 22 his Father is buried in much state. The
Pall Bearers all had ‘ black silk Hatbands and shammy
gloves ’. The Under-Bearers had ‘ black Lamb gloves
and each 0-2-6 ’. William Corpe (the servant) had
‘ a black crape Hatband and bucldes and a black broad
cloth Coat and waistcoat given him by us ’. The Clerk —

‘ a black silk Hatband common, and a pair of mock
shammy gloves ’. The sextons of Ansford and Cary had
‘ Lamb gloves ’. The women relations, though they did
not attend, ‘ had or are to have all black shammy gloves ’.
The six women ‘ Wakers ’ who sat up all night with the
corpse after death — each a pair of ‘ Black Lamb gloves ’.

. . . ‘ Cary Bell as well as Ansford Bell tolled from 12 at
noon till 8 in the evening. Everything I hope was done
decently, handsome and well — and nothing omitted but
want of speaking to the Gentlemen to return to the
Parsonage to pull of their cloaks at the House, which,

109

1771

however, most of them did — and drank a glass of wine
and went,’

June 4. . , After today I am to keep the Parsonage
House. . .

June 5. ... This morning between James Woodforde,
Jane Woodforde, and John Woodforde, House-
keeping was settled as follows ; that I should keep
house at Parsonage, Jack at Lower House and that
Sister Jane should board with me for sixteen pounds
per annum, Tea, Sugar and Wine excepted. . . .

June 24. I read Prayers this morning at Cary being
Midsummer Day After Prayers I made a little visit
to Mrs. Melliar where I met Mr Frank Woodforde
and told him, before Mrs Melliar, Miss Mcliiar and
Miss Barton what great obligations I was under to
him for his not offering me to hold his Lhings for
him instead of Mr. Dolton and Mr, Gatehouse
From such base actions and dishonest men O Lord,
deliver me.

On June 25 he rides over to see his cousin Mr. Dolton,
Parson of Cucklington, who is to hold the living of Ansford
for Frank Woodforde, and on July 9 he duly inducts
him to Ansford Rectory where the Diarist and his sister
Jane are to live; Mr. Dolton promising not to turn
them out. On July 30 he enters : ‘ Busy this morning
making a Pot of Medicines for Horses ’ From numerous
entries of fees, from this time on, it appears that he treated
quite a number of horses ; in one case a horse was sent
him to be treated all the way from Wiltshire — Mr.
Goldney of Chippenham.

On September 22 he dines and spends the evening
with the Creeds, and they ‘ went to the Cudgell-Playing
(alias Back-S'^ord) at Crockers, where was good sport

no

1771

and a vast concourse of people’- On the same day
a Mr. Wickham informs him that the Bishop of Bath
and Wells had given him the Vicarage of Castle Cary.
He wants to know if the Diarist can serve it for him,
whb replies, ‘ I could not serve but till he was provided.’
September 25 he goes over to dine with Mr. Wickham
at Shepton Mallett, and brings back with him in the
chaise Miss Betsy White of Shepton, to whom he refers
as follows : ‘ She is a sweet tempered girl indeed, and
I like her much, and I think would make a good wife,
I do not know but I shall make a bold stroke that way.’
He sees a good deal of her.

On October 14 he and his boy go to Oxford, returning
home on October 23

Oct. 19 . The Streets of Oxford are much improved,

all the Signs are taken down and put against the
Houses, the Streets widened, East-Gate and Brocards
taken down and a new Bridge going to be built where
Magdalen Bridge now stands, and temporary Bndges
during the building of it now making by Chnstchurch
Broad-Walk, for to go up the Hill, etc.

Dec. 23. ... Mr. Thomas_Woodforde of Taunton (who
is lately married to a Miss Waters of Blandford) with
his new wife came to my house in a Post Chaise just
at dinner time, and they both dmed, supped and
slept at Parsonage. His wife appears to be a very
aggreable as well as a handsome young Lady and has
£800 for her Fortune. I really think my cousin has
made a very good choice. . . . Mr. Leache of Alford
and Mr. James Clarke supped and spent the
evening at Parsonage. Mr. Leache came to me
to see Ecton’s Liber Valorum to see whether he
can hold two Livings without a Dispensation. .

Ill

1771

Mrs. Burton has given his eldest son the Living of
Sutton. . .

The reference to Mrs. Burton and the living of Sutton,
or Sutton Montis, to give the parish its full name, is not
without inteiest, for Airs. Burton was the widow' of the
last Burton Rector of Sutton Adontis, the living having
passed successively from father to son for just two
centuries. The first Burton, — Edmund Burton, — ^w'ho
was a near Hnsman of the famous author of The Anatomy
oj Melancholy, had come to Sutton Montis in 1573,
and the last Burton died there in 1771. And even then
the family connexion was not broken, for the last Rector’s
daughter, Eleanor, had married Mr. Leach’s son, and
through theirdescendantstheliving remained in the family
till almost the end of the nineteenth centurj . I should
think that this is probably a unique record of clerical
continuity of the same family in the same parish. The
Burton parsons were mainly educated at Cambridge, but
one or two were at Oxford. This is another instance of
a good sound clerical family, son succeeding father from
Queen Elizabeth to George III, as against the Macaulay
theorj' of Anglican decay. Mrs. Burton was Anne,
daughter of Squire Francis Hollis Newman of Cadbury,
whose son, it will be remembered, had sent our Diarist
a hare when he was an undergraduate at Oxford ^

1772. Feb. 29. This morning after Breakfast I w'ent
down to Henbridge, when I saw and spent the morning
with Mrs. Grant and her two daughters, Miss Jenny
Wason and Miss Nancy Waso«. [She and Brother

1 Alumnt Cantabngtenses Q andj A Venn), 1922, and Foster’s llmnni
Oa;a»i«w«, under Burton ; History oJ Soinersetshire,yo\ i,p 431,

family records. Francis Hollis Newman was sherifi of Somerset in 1700.
Through my mother I descend from these Burton ‘parsons *

II2

1772

John had made up their quarrel.] They all seemed
to be very uneasy, particularly Mrs. Grant, who said,
that my Brother seemed too gay to be able to make
a good Husband to her daughter, kept too much
Company for his circumstances etc. etc. I told her
that he had some failings as other young men, but
I thought his good ones overbalanced them as I never
saw anything tending to any very bad. I staid at
Henbridge till after one and then returned and dined,
supped, and slept again at Parsonage. Brother John
went home well pleased at my going down. . . .

On March 7 he sends Mr. Ford, the Bath ‘ Statuary
the inscription for his father’s monument : the latter
will cost -£ 1 ^ 14/. The Diarist does not tell us the
inscription on this monument, but Phelps,*^ who succeeded
Collinson as the historian of Somerset, gives it in full.
Phelps says ; ‘ Against the north wall of the chancel
[Ansford Church] is a neat monument of white marble,
having inscribed on it :

H.S.E. Samuel Woodforde, A.M. ecclesiae de Castle
Cary Vicarius j hujus item parochise annos magis quin-
quaginta rector indefessus, et honoratissimo comiti de
Tankerville k sacris domesticus. Vir erat antiquis mori-
bus, virtute, fide ; pauperibus erogator largus : pater
prudens ac providus : amicus certus, cordatus, ndus.
Eodem tumulo quiescunt cineres uxoris amatae sequd
ac amantissimae Janae Woodforde, quae per quadraginta
fere annos in domesticis vitae muneribus obeundis
plurimis antecdlere, nuUi forsan secunda videbatur.
Amabil« in vita, nec in morte divisi sunt.

Ilia prius Feb. 8, 1766. | iEtatis ] 60

Ille secutus Mali 16, 1771. ( anno J 76
Valete suaves animae, sed non aetemum !

Filii mcerentes posuerunt.

^ Phelps, Htstoty of Smersetshtre, vol 1, p 375 (1836).

”3

1772

On March 31 he enters into an agreement with Mr.
Wickham to serve the curacy of Castle Cary for ^30
per annum, in addition to surplice fees. The tithes of
Cary are to be farmed by the Burges, who will pay
Mr. Wickham ;^I30 per annum for three years, and after-
wards £ 1^0 for the remainder of his period as Vicar.

April 21 . ... Whilst we were at dinner they [Parson
and Mrs. Wickham] came to us to the Parsonage and
caught my Sister Jane at table with her hair up in
papers, as she is going this evening to Shepton
Assembly, but they excused it very kindly.

May I. ... In the evening Mr Creed, myself and the
Counsellor [Melliar] walked down into Car}' and saw
the Fair, it being Cary Fair to-day I saw' Miss
Hannah Pew in the Fair and I gave her some Sugar
Plumbs, half a pound of them and they cost me
o. I. 4. . . . Brother John supped and spent the even-
ing at Parsonage, was very much in liquor and
behaved like a madman, N.B. He has received
a letter from Nancy Wason, which I saw and I think
she has used Jack very ill, she declares of [off] entirely,
and will answer no more letters of his. It is I believe
her Mother’s and Sister’s doing all this. . . .

June I. ... Brother John set forth this morning for
Bath to a Cock Match.

June 6. ... Brother John returned this evening and
supped etc. at Parsonage ; he says that he has won
fifty Pounds at Bath.

June 7. ... Mr. Creed called upon me in the evening
and we took a walk — after I had buried a child of
Giles Francis’s by name J. Francis — aged 5 years.
The child died at Bath owing to a kick in the groin
by another lad. Giles works at Bath, and he and his

114

1772

son brought the child in a coffin upon their heads
from Bath, they set out from Bath last night at 12. . . .

On June 18 he goes to Wells with Mr. Wickham, sees
the Bishop, who promises his support as to the Diarist’s
continuing in the Ansford curacy, and has tea with the
Dean, Lord Francis Seymour, his wife, son and daughters.
‘ Lord Francis and Lady and the whole family behaved
exceeding complaisant and civil to me. His Lordship
told me that I had now found the way to the Deanery
he would be glad to see me at all times and often. . . .
It is indeed as good a family as ever I was in. . The
Soldiers in the Town were exercising in the C. Yard
whilst we were drinking tea. It was really very pretty.
I don’t know when I ever spent such an afternoon or
day. . . .’

Again on July 31 he goes to Wells and visits the Bishop
and Dean, who are very cordial to him. It has been
arranged that he is to remain Curate at Ansford. ‘ The
Dean asked me to dine with him to-morrow upon
a Haunch of Venison, but I told his Lordship that I was
afraid I could not.’

August 31 he sets out for Winton with his boy —
i Poser’s duties there with Bathurst He returns
5tember 5, and on October 1 he goes to Oxford
te for a new Chancellor, the candidates being
North, then Prime Minister, and the Earl of
r. The Diarist intended to vote for Lord Radnor,
they could not muster more than 73 votes, they
sned his candidature, and Lord North was unani-
T elected on October 3. He reaches Ansford again
tober 6.

31. Very much out of order this morning, being
115 1 2

1772

terribly fluttered owing I believe to the drinHng of
green tea in a morning. I design to leave it of, and
tomorrow take to Sage tea. . . .

Nov. 26. ... Mr Will™ Strangeways and Mr. Edm^
Gapper, both of Charlton and acquaintance of Brother
John’s, and James and Richard Clarke spent the after-
noon, supped etc. at Parsonage. . . . Edm^ Gappei
was exceeding drunk indeed, he slept at my house,
and Mr. Strangeways at my Bi other John’s. I was
kept up till after two in the morning and could not
help it. Richard Clarke was quite merry also.

1773. Jan. 6. . . Painter Clarke’s family is under great
distress concerning his son Charles, who went to
London on Xmas day and have heard nothing of
him since, and also that a horse and bridle w’as found
on Hounslow Heath on Monday Dec. 28 with a man
genteely dressed, booted and spurred was found under
a hedge near the horse shot thro’ the head as men-
tioned in the Salisbury Paper Monday last. No one
knew of his going to London but John Burge, and to
whom he promised to write when he got to town,
and- he has received no letter at all from him.

Feb. 10. ... I went in the evening to the Play with
the Justice [Creed] The Play was Hamlet and the
entertainment — ^Hob in the Well.

March i. ... Brother John spent the evening at
Parsonage but was noisy, being merry, and his seeing
Nancy Wason ride by our house this aft. and is
reported to be married to And’ Russ this morning.
Parson Rawkins and another Person wdth her. . . .

March 28. . . Mr. John Pouncett of Cole spent the
afternoon, supped and spent the evening at Parsonage.
He has an inclination for my Sister Jane. I think it
would do well, . . .

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1773

April 14. ... To Eliz. Clinch, this morning one year’s
wages due Lady Day last past paid her ..3.3.0....

April 17. ... Sister Clarke, James and Richard Clarke,
Jenny Clarke and Sam spent the major part of the
morning with me, and agreed pretty well upon some
matters relatmg to their affairs. The old Doctor
I find is not worth much less than 16000 p**. . . .
[He had destroyed his will and the Diarist induces
him to make another in the interests of his family,
as the money would be divided up unfairly if he died
intestate.]

April 22. ... I went up to Dr. Clarke’s this mormng
by the desire of Sister Clarke and James, and desired
him to make a Will agreeable to his Family and him-
self and he agreed so to do which I am very glad of. —
The poor Doctor cried a little. . . .

May 21 . ... A grey owl was found in my back-kitchen
this morning. He came down the chimney. I gave
him his Liberty again. , . .

May 22. ... Very busy all the morning m trimming
up my Geraniums. . , .

On June 13 he takes duty at Batcombe by arrangement
with Mr. Wickham, who was to take the Diarist’s services
at Cary and Ansford. But as soon as he got out of church
at Batcombe a message is brought him that Mr. Wickham
‘ was not come to serve my Churches After a hasty
dinner he rides back post-haste just in time to take a late
service at Cary Church. But naturally there was grum-
bhng over the mcident. He notes ‘Mr. Coward’s^ Family
of Spargrove was at Batcombe Church, with many other
good families ’.

^ Thomas Coward, £s^ , SheriSE of Somerset la IJJU

117

1773

July 8. ... We aE went from Sister Clarke’s up into
South Cary to the Royal Oak to see Mr. Nevil’s
grand machinery, being the whole of the woolen
manufactory, from one end of it to the other, and
ail in motion at once It is very curious indeed —
three thousand movements at once going — composed
by ]Mr. Ncvil himself, and which took him ny thirty
)ears in completing it. .

July 19. ... Mr. Frank Woodforde was this morning
inducted into the Living of Ansford, and he immedi-
ately sent me a Line that he intends serving Ansford
next Sunday himself, which notice of my leaving the
Curacy is I think not only unbnd but very ungentle-
manlike I must be content. Far be it from me to
expect any favour at all from that House. All their
actions towards me are bad. ... I intend to quit the
Parsonage House when my year is up, which "will be
Lady Day next, and to take up my residence once
more at New College. . . .

July 28. ... Sister Clarke came to let me know that
Frank dines with them tomorrow [by Richard’s
invitation] upon the Goose that Sister Clarke invited
me to dine upon as tomorrow. Therefore shall not
go. This is the second time of being disappointed to
dine there. — First upon a Fawn and now a Goose.

1. Mem. J® Clarke invited me to dine at his house
upon part [of] a Fawn last week but did not mention
any particular day. — ^However they had it last week
and never let me know it.

2. Mem: Sister Clarke invited me yesterday to come
and dine upon a goose as to-morrow, and now I cannot
go as Frank is to dine there and whom I don’t choose
to associate with. — ^The next time I am invited there
I shall take care how I promise them. . . .

1 18

1773

Aug. 24. . . I called at Mrs. White’s and stayed with

her and her daughter Betsy till 8 o’clock this even-
ing. . . . Betsy White came from London only last
Saturday. She is greatly improved and handsomer
than ever . .

Aug. 30. . . As I was coming from 4 Acres down the
Lane this morning between 7 and 8 I met my Uncle
Tom on Horseback with his servant going to Mrs.
Bowel’s in Hertfordshire. He said to me Good
morrow to you and I made him a Bow and said your
Servant Sir ! . .

Sep. I . ... [He hears of a vacancy in the Mastership
of Bedford School.] — the third best thing in the gift
of New College, — a new built house with an exceed-
ing handsome garden — 50 guineas paid the Master
every quarter — Fuel, Candles and all kinds of ex-
penses about the house and gardens paid for the
Master and no taxes whatsoever. An Ussher also
found and paid by the Charity — ^About 1 2 boys to teach
by the Master and Ussher. The only bad thing belong-
ing to it, is, being a Borough Town, and there is no such
thing as being neuter. Upon the whole I like it very
well, and I believe shall accept of it, if it comes to me.

On September 6 he hands Mr..Wickham notice of his
giving up Cary curacy at Michaelmas, and visits ‘ my
dear Betsy White ’, and on September 13 he enters that
Andrew Russ and Nancy Wason are married that day.
On September 16 ‘ I carried my dear Maid of Shepton
some Peaches etc., etc.’ On October 4 he sets out with
his boy for Oxford on horseback ‘ to hear about Bed-
ford ’. Unfortunately, one Hooke is nominated by New
College for Bedford on October 14, and next day the
Diarist starts home for Ansford.

119

1773

Dec. 14. ... [He leaves Ansford to take up his residence
at Oxford :] I left my whole family rather dejected
this morning. Pray God preserve them and make my
journey of good to them.

Dec. 16. . Exceeding disagreeable to me yet Oxford

seems being so contrary to my old way of living.

Dec. 17. . . Things seem something bettei to day,

and 1 hope will more so daily, when I get to College.
[He IS at present at the Blue Boar.}

Dec. 24. (Mem:) I dreamt very much of poor old
Alice Stacy of Ansford and my man Willm Corpe
last night — the former that she had a vast discharge
of matter from her Breast — the latter that he was
very drunk and almost killed by a fall from a Horse —
both which I thought I saw very plainly.

Dec. 25. I breakfasted, and slept again in my Rooms
— I went to Chapel this morning at 9 o’clock being
Christmas Day, and rec** the Holy Sacrament from
the Hands of our Warden who was present The
Warden was on one side of the Altar and myself
being Sub-Warden on the other side — I read the
Epistle for the day at the Altar and assisted the
Warden in going round with the Wine.

For an Offering at the A tar, gave . . .0.1.0. The
Dean of Christchurch who is Bishop of Chcstei
preached this morning at Christchurch, but I did
not attend at it. . . . N.B. The Dean of Christchurch
always preaches this day in the morning at Christ-
church Cathedral. I dined in the Hall and 14 Sen''
Fellows with me. I invited the Warden to dine with
us as is usual on this day, but his Sister being here,
could not. We had a very handsome dinner of my
ordering, as I order dinner every day being Sub-
Warden.

120

1773

We had for dinner, two fine Codds boiled with
fryed Souls round them and oyster sauce, a fine
sirloin of Beef roasted, some peas soup and an orange
Pudding for the first course, for the second, we had
a lease of Wild Ducks rosted, a fore Qu: of Lamb
and sallad and mince Pies. We had a grace cup
before the second course brought by the Butler to
the Steward of the Hall who was Mr. Adams a Semor
Fellow, who got out of his place and came to my
chair and there drank to me out of it, wishing me
a merry Xmas. I then took it of him and drank
wishing him the same, and then it went round, three
standing up all the time From the high Table the
grace Cup goes to the Batchelors and Scholars.
After the second course there was a fine plumb cake
brought to the sen*" Table as is usual on this day,
which also goes to the Batchelors after. After Grace
is said there is another Grace-Cup to drink omnibus
Wiccamisis, which is drunk as the first, only the
Steward of the Hall does not attend the second Grace
Cup. . . . We dined at 3 o’clock and were an Hour
and i at it. We all then went into the Sen*^ Com:
Room, where the Warden came to us and sat with us
till Prayers. The Wine drunk by the Sen’’ Fellows,
domus pays for Prayers this evemng did not begin
till 6 o’clock, at which I attended as did the Warden.
... I supped etc., in the Chequer, we had Rabbits
for supper rosted as is usual on this day. . . The
Sub-Warden has one to himself , The Bursars each
one apiece, the Sen"^ Fellows ■§■ a one each. The
Jun*' Fellows a rabbit between three.

N.B. Put on this*Day a new Coat and Waistcoat
for the first time.

1774. Jan. 14. I breakfasted and slept again at New

I2I

1774

College. At 10 o*clock this morning ent up into the
Senior Common Room, where the Warden and all the
Fellows met, and we had given by the Warden there
some Sack wine and some bread and butter, as he
takes his Doctor’s Degree to-day From the Common
Room we went m Procession, a Beadle going before,
to the Convocation House, it being the first Day of
Term. Cooke Jun*' went also to the Convocation
House to take his Master’s degree. I scidd for him
there. We all went in our proper Hoods to the
Schools I took a walk with Boyce this morning
after having been up into the schools, up the Hill,
and for a Shaving Box of one Darcy up the Hill pd
o I. o. I dined in the Chequer and the Warden
dined with us and treated the Sen*^ Fellows with a very
handsome Dinner, and after dinner w'e all went into
the Sen*' Common Room, where the Warden treated
us with Wine till near 9 o’clock at night, and then
he retired. The Warden also treated us with a large
dish of Fruit after dinner in the Master’s Common
Room. Had a new Wigg brought home this morning,
which I put on before I went to dinner, it is a more
fashionable one than my old ones are, a one curled
wigg with two curls of the sides. I like it, and it
was liked by most People at dinner I gave the
Barber’s man, Jonathan o i. o. At Back-Gammon
this evening with Milton only one gammon, and I lost
to him by bad luck o. 10. 6. I supped in the Chequer
and went to bed soon after.

Jan. 31. I got up this morning at half past six in order
to go in the Machine to Bath. The Porter’s man
called me at six, for which and carrying my Port-
manteau to the Cross Inn I gave him . . . o. i. 0. To
Frank Paynes Boy this morning gave o. 6 . I went

122

1774

to the Cross Inn at a little after seven and the Machine
was gone, however I took a Post-Chaise immediately
from the Cross Inn and overtook the Machine at
Enson about 5 miles from Oxon, and there got
into It.

For the Post Chaise pd . . . o. 4. o

. Gave the Driver . . . .0.1.0

There was one Passenger in it a Gentleman of Exeter
College, we stopped and breakfasted at Witney at
the Bridge, and then I left the Gentleman as he came
there only to meet some Company.

For my Breakfast at Witney pd . o. i. o

At Witney the Machine took up a Poor Player, a
young man who is in a consumption and going to his
Friends at Bath — ^he looked dreadful bad.

I dmed at Burford by myself, pd there o. 4. o
At Burford pd the remaining part of the
Fare . o. 10. 6

Dr. Bosworth of Oriel and a young Lady came into
the same room where I dined at Burford soon after
I dined, as they were going to London in the Strand
Water Machine thro’ Oxford. I was not long with
them at the Inn at Burford as our Machine was just
setting off. At Burford we took up a young Farmer
who was lame and going to try Bath Waters, and the
Farmer’s Sister a young Woman. The Farmer thinks
his disorder to be Rheumatic. We got to Circencester
about 5 this afternoon where we supped and slept.

I supped in a Room by myself and spent the evening.

Feb. 1st. I got up this morning at half past five, got
into the Machme about 6 and set of before breakfast
for Bath, at Circencester pd . o. 3. 6

Gave the Chamber maid and Waiter 0. i. 6

At Tedbury we breakfasted pd there

123

o. I. o

1774

We got to Petty France about ii, where the Machine
stays two or three Hours. And as I wanted to reach
Ansford this evening, I took a Post-Chaise immedi-
ately at Petty France, and set forth for Bath. It
snowed prodigiously all the way to Bath.

Gave the Bath Coachman at Petty France o. i, o
For some Rum and Water at Petty France o. o. 3
At Petty France for a Chaise to Bath pd o. ii. 3
Gave a Poor Boy at Petty France . . o. o. 6

I got to Bath about i o’clock, there I took a fresh
Chaise for Old Downe.

Gave Petty France Driver . . o, i. 6

besides a dram upon the Road. I got to Old Downe
betw cen 3 and 4 this afternoon where I stayed about
a Quarter of an Hour, cat some cold rest Beef, drank
a pint of Ale, and then got into a fresh Chaise for
Ansford. It snowed all the way very thick from Bath
to Old Downe. At Bath for chaise pd . o. 10. 6
Gave the Bath driver desides a dram . o. i. 6
For a chaise at Old Downe to Ansford pd o. 10. 6
Eating etc., at Old Downe pd . .0.1.0

I got to Ansford, I thank God safe and well this
evening about 6 o’clock. It snowed all the way from
Old Downe to Ansford and the wind blowed very
rough and it was very cold indeed. Gave the old
Downe driver a dram at Gannard’s Grave and
another at home, and gave him also o. i, 6. I found
Mr. Pouncett and my sister Jane at home by them-
selves, and I supped and slept at Parsonage. Brother
John supped and spent the evening with us. All
Friends pretty well but poor Dr. Clarke, who is
worse than I left him, his legs swell and he talks but
very httle, and looks very ill indeed. Mr. Pouncett
supped and slept at Parsonage.

124

1774

March 13. I breakfasted, dined, supped and slept again
at Parsonage. Sent over to Cole this morning to
enquire for Mr. Guppy, he returned from Bath
yesterday, and is but very indifferent. Brother
Heighes, dined”, supped etc., at Parsonage. . I did
not go either to Ansford or Cary Church to-day.
Sister Clarke and Jenny, Mr. Pouncett, Mr. White and
Mrs. James Clarke supped and spent the evening at
Parsonage. Brother John spent the latter part of the
aft. at Parsonage. Brother Heighes’ son Sam supped
etc., at Parsonage. Mr. Pouncett slept at Parsonage.
I talked with him pretty home about matters being
so long doing — [i. e the marriage arranged between
Mr. Pouncett and Sister Jane being so long delaid]

March 14. I breakfasted, dined, supped and slept again
at Parsonage. Mr. Pouncett breakfasted at Parsonage
and went home. Sister White spent part of the after-
noon at Parsonage Sister Jane and myself both very
much in the dumps to-day.

March 16. I breakfasted, dined, supped and slept again
at Parsonage. I took a ride this morning to Shepton
Mallett and went thro’ Evercreech and made a short
visit to Mrs. Millard and her daughter Betsy who
were glad to see me. I wanted to see Jack’s Flame
but could not. When I came to Shepton I got of at
Mr. White’s and there I spent most of my time with
Mrs. White and my dear Betsy White. They won-
dered not to see me before. My Boy went with me
on Mr. Pouncett’s Mare. ... I made a short visit to
Mrs. Wickham, Mrs. Figges etc. Miss Hole etc, and
returned by a Qu"^ after three. Gave the Hostler
at the George at Shepton o. o. 6. Mr. White and
Brother Heighes dined etc., at Parsonage, Sister
White dined at Parsonage about 5 o’clock. She had

125

1774

been on foot to the Sale at Bruton and could not
come back before the above time, much tired. Mr.
Pouncett breakfasted at Parsonage, went home after
and returned in the evening and supped and slept at
Parsonage. For a Horse to-day . . . o 2. 6.

March 23. I breakfasted at Parsonage this morning as
did Mr. Pouncett, who after breakfast went home
and returned about 12 to take his leave of me I got
up very early this morning, packed up my things,
settled all accounts with my People, dined at 12 and
at one set of in Ansford Inn Chaise with a very heavy
Heart for Oxford thro’ Bath. I left with Mr. Pouncett
two guineas to be given to the Poor of Ansford, as
directed by me m writing. I left with him also one
guinea to be given to the Poor of Cary as also directed
by me in writing. Mr. White called upon me this
morning and took his leave. Robin Coleman called
upon me this morning on the same. I gave my man
William a good deal of my old Cloathes. I gave my
maid Betty Chrich an old prunella gown.

Paid Eliz. Crich this morning a year’s

wages 3. 3. o

Paid her one year’s Interest of 20 Pound i. o. o
Paid her for her Mother do. . .1.0.0

Paid Will"* for washing i year . to. 6

Paid Eliz; Crich for Housekeeping to this
day .... . o. 2. 9

Paid Will: and Boy and Poor to this day . o. 3. 6
I gave each of my Servants going away . o. 2. 6
I left all my House m Tears and I could not refrain
myself from the same. Pray God bless them all.
This day left of all Housekeeping to Mr. Pouncett.
We had some Trout for dinner to-day, but my Heart
was so full that I could eat but little. I gave Mr.

126

1774

Owens my Barber this morning o. 5. o. I called at
Shepton and took my leave of my dear Betsy. I got
to Old Downe about 3 this afternoon and to Bath
at 5. I did not pay for the Ansford Chaise therefore

am in debt to Perry for it, the sum of .

0.

10.

6

Gave Tom Smith, the Ansford Driver .
For Old Downe Chaise to the White Lion

0.

I.

6

at Bath pd . . . . .

0.

10.

6

For Wine at Old Downe pd .

0.

0.

6

To the Old Downe Driver — ^gave .

0.

10.

6

To the Turnpikes for Bath pd

0,

2.

0

I met Harry Rodbard this evening at the White
Lion at Bath, and we supped and spent the evening
together. There was a gentleman by name Pitcairn
with Harry, a Wiltshire clergyman but he did not
sup with us. I called at Dr. Dunn’s this evening at
Bath, I saw Mrs Dunn and one Miss Chambers, but
I did not see Dr. Dunn. Mrs. Dunn very much
expected my sister and Mr Pouncett. She had got
the Brides Bed etc., all ready for them. I called also
on Mr. Creed’s Friend, Dr. Anderton and Wife.
I went and called upon Dr. Ballard at the Bear Inn
at Bath. My aunt Tom and her son, Frank, and
Jenny Clarke are all at my Aunt’s at Bath, but I did
not call on them. I slept at the White Lion at
Brookmans.

Next day he reaches Oxford in the evening, safe and
well. On April 13 he and his colleague Cooke are sworn
in as Pro-Proctors before the Vice-Chancellor, Webber —
the Senior Proctor with Berkeley — nominating them as
his Pro-Proctors.

April 20. I breakfasted and slept again at New College.

127

1774

Master Senior and Bhsse breakfasted with me. I went
to Chapel this morning at 1 1 o’clock it being Term
Time and Wednesday. There should have been
Declamations to-day but there was none : Cooth
and Trotman should have declaimed, therefore I shall
punish them. I took a long walk after Prayers, and
on my return went into the public Schools, and set
over some young gentlemen doing generals.^ At
2 o’clock went with Webber to Christchurch to the
Sen' Proctor’s Mr. Berkeley’s, and there we dined
and spent the afternoon, and at 8 came away. Mr.
Bowerbank, Mr. Shackleford, Mr. Mines, Mr Rigby,
Mr. Selstone, Mr. Morris, and Mr. Rawbone dined
etc, with us there Mr. NichoUs was ill and could
not come, and Mr. Cooke not in town. We had
a very elegant dinner. The first course was, part of
a large Cod, a Chine of Mutton, some Soup, a Chicken
Pye, Puddings and Roots etc. Second course, Pidgeons
and Asparagus, a Fillet of Veal with Mushrooms and
high Sauce with it, rested Sweetbreads, hot Lobster,
Apricot Tart and in the middle a Pyramid of Syllabubs
and Jelhes. We had a Desert of Fruit after Dinner,
and Madeira, white Port and red to drink as Wine.
We were all very cheerful and merry. I supped and
spent the evening in the Chequer. N.B. We had at
dinner to-day, some green cucumbers, the first I have
seen this year.

Ap: 21. I breakfasted and slept again at New College.
For a new Pr of Gloves the other day pd o. 2. o.
I went with Holmes to-day to the Free-Masons
Lodge held this day at the New Inn, was there
admitted a Member of the same and dined and spent

^ See pp- 158-62 for an account of the University system in the eigh*
teenth century

128

1774

the afternoon with them. The Form and Ceremony
on the occasion I must beg leave to omit putting
down. Paid on admission for fees etc. ,^3. 5. o. It
is a very honourable as well as charitable Institution
and much more than I could conceive it was. Am
very glad on being a Member of it. I supped and
spent the evening in the Chequer. Mr. Stinton one
of our Lodge supped etc., with Holmes in the Chequer
he is a very worthy man. At 1 1 this night was called
out of the Chequer by Webber to go with him and
quell a riot in George Lane, but when we came it
was 'quiet, however, we went to the Swan in George
Lane, and unfortunately met with a Gownsman
above stairs carousing with some low-life people. We
conducted him to his College. He belongs to Uni-
versity College, is a scholar there, and his name is
Hawkins, he was terribly frightened and cried almost
all the way to his Coll, and was upon his knees very
often in the street, and bareheaded all the way. He
is to appear again to-morrow before Webber. We
returned to New College by 12 o’clock.

There is no further note as to this unfortunate young
man’s fate at the hands of Webber : it is a pity he did
not appear before the kindly Diarist : we should then
have known his punishment, which would not have been
a harsh one.

May 12. I breakfasted and slept again at New College.
Lent Blisse this morning 8 of my MSS Sermons.
Holmes and myself went to Exeter College about
2 o’clock and dined with Mr. Stinton, a Senior
Fellow of Ex: Coll: We dined in the publick Hall at
Exeter Coll: at the High Table. The Rector, Dr.

129

K

1774

Bray etc., dined with us We had but an indifferent
dinner and served up slovingly. Nothing near so
neat or genteel as at New College. We spent the
afternoon in their Sen'’ Com: Room and the Rector
did the same and smoked a Pipe with us. We came
away before five o’clock. I went to Prayers this
evening at 5 o’clock. I supped and spent the evening
in the Chequer. Whilst I was at supper I was sent
for to quell a not in HoUinwell. I left my supper
and went with Holmes and Oakely into HoUmwell,
but it was pretty quiet However I met with two
gentlemen going into a House and I accosted them,
and I believe they were the same that made the
disturbance I asked them to go to their Colleges
directly and wait on me to-morrow morning at New
College. Their names were Taylor of Worcester Coll:
and Duprie of Exeter College. I received a letter
this evening from my Sister Jane, who acquainted
me that my poor old servant man Wilham Corpe
dropped down in an Apoplectic Fit May 2, and
expired directly. He was that morning married to
his old Sweet-heart, and this happened in the even-
ing in the street. I am exceedingly sorry for him
indeed and her also. I hope he is everlastingly happy
in a better state : Pray God make us all wise to
consider our latter end, for Death comes upon us we
see at an hour when we little think upon it, and
sometimes very sudden. My Sister also acquainted
me that poor Dr. Clarke is very bad, much worse
than he was.

As to poor old William Corpe, it "wiU be remembered
that the Dianst had a cunous dream about him on
Christmas Eve. (See under date, December 24, 1773 )

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1774

May 20. . .1 got home to Ansford this evening about
8 o’clock and I thank God safe and well, to the Old
House, but found none but the maid at home, they
were gone to Sister White’s. . . I supped and spent
the evening at Mr. White’s with him. Sister White,
Sister Jane and Mr. Pouncett I slept at the Old
Parsonage House once more. N.B. the first time
I ever came in one day from Oxford [he had started
at 5.30 from there] to Ansford, I suppose it must
be near 100 miles.

The journey all the way by Post Chaise cost him, with
meals, tips, and turnpikes, the large sum of 8x. This
IS a good illustration of the point already made,^ of the
far greater expense of travelling in the eighteenth century
as compared with our own day

May 22. ... Have been very naughty to-day, did not
go to either Ansford or Cary Church . . . Have
mercy on me O Lord a miserable, vile sinner, and
pardon my failings.

May 24. I breakfasted, dined, supped and slept again
at Parsonage. Mr. Pouncett breakfasted, dined,
supped, and slept at Parsonage. After breakfast
I went down to Ansford Church and married my
Sister Jane and Mr. Pouncett by license. Pray God
send Thy Blessing upon them both, and may they
be long happy in each other. I would not have any-
thing for marrying them but Mr. Pouncett gave
Mr. Frank Woodford i. i. o. Mr. White was Father
and Sister White only present.

Mr. Pouncett gave the Clerk, Dav Maby . o. 10. 6

^ See pp 71—3 for some general observations on pnces, and the pur-
chasing power of money

I 3 I K 2

1774

I gave my old Maid Betty Crich . . o. 2. 6

Paid my Boy for Oats, shoeing my Mare

■ O* O

I called at an Ale House in Long Acre by
Mr. Hooks and had a pint of beer for
which I paid . . . . o. o. 3

I dined at Wiley at the Bull pd there . o. 4. 4!
Gave to the Hostler there . . . o. o. 6

I supped and slept at Everly at the Rose and Crown
about 45 miles from Ansford, not at all fatigued, s>o
far I thank God got safe and well.

For Turnpikes to-day . . pd about . . o. o. 6

June 3rd. I breakfasted, dined, supped and slept again
at College, Master Sen*' breakfasted again with me
this morning. k

Paid for the Oxford Magazine for May . o. o, 6
Paid also for Jackson’s Oxford Journal for
I quarter begun the 22nd January 1774 o 2. 6
I fancy I paid one quarter before but am not certain.
Gave my Barber’s man this morning . o o. 6
Gave my Bedmaker’s Boy, Jack . . o. o. 6

For wine this afternoon in M.C.R.. ,pd. o. o. 6
Rec* of Swanton this aft for an Exhibition i. o. o
Dr. Wall, myself, Oakley, Master Sen*" and Mr.
Townshend of London a Wine and Brandy Mer-
chant, Brother of James Townshend of this Coll,
who dined with us to-day in Hall, went this evening
in one of Kemps Post Coaches to Abingdon to see
a Play there. We put up at Powels at the Crown
Sc Thistle where we had coffee and Tea, and aftei-
wards we went to the Market House and saw the
tragedy of Cato, and the Padlock for an Entertain-
ment.

June 5. I breakfasted, dined, supped and slept again

133

1774

at Coll; Lent Masters Sen’' my Mare this mormng
to go to his curacy at Gadington about 6 miles from
Oxon. I went to St. Mary’s in the afternoon and
heard an indiiferent discourse by Cooke of Christ-
church.

For Wine this afternoon m M.C.R. pd. . o. o. 6
I went to Chapel this evening, much company there.
I took a walk with Webber after 1 1 this evening over
the University. Holmes went with us. A common
Strumpet we met with, and if it was not for me
would have been sent to Bridewell. It was one
o’clock before I got to bed to-night.

July 5th. I breakfasted, dined, supped and slept again
at College. Thorpe breakfasted with me this morn-
ing. . . . Lent Thorpe one of my Proctors gowns this
morning as he is one of the occasional Proctors, for
this Week, this Week being our grand gala for this
year. . . . There was a sermon this morning at St.
Mary’s for the Benefit of the Infirmary preached by
the Bishop of Lichfield and Coventry (Dr. Worth),
but I could not conveniently go. We dined at 2
to-day.

For Wine this afternoon pd. , . . o. i. o

A httle after 4 this aft went to the Theatre and
heard the oratorio of Hercules, for a ticket pd o. 5. o.
There was a good deal of Company present. The
Music was very fine — A Miss Davies from the Opera
House sung most delightfully. Miss Molly Linley
sung very well. A Mr. Gosdall gave us a fine Solo
on the Violincello as did Mr. Fisher on the Hautboy
Miss Davies is to have they say sixty guineas. .
Mr. Woodhouse a gent: Com: of Umversity College
was very drunk at the Theatre and cascaded in the
middle of the theatre Mr. Highway one of the

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1774

nominal Proctors for this week desired him to with-
draw very civilly but he was desired by one Mr.
Peddle a gent* com: of St. Mary Hall not to mind
him, my seeing Highway in that distress I went to
them myself and insisted upon Woodhouse going
away immediately from the Theatre, and then Peddle
behaved very impertinently to me, at which I insisted
upon his coming to me to-morrow morning. Mr.
Woodhouse after some little time retired, but Peddle
remained and behaved very impertinently, I there-
fore intend putting him m the black Book. We did
not come out of the Theatre till near 9. For Wine
this evening in M C.R. pd o. o 6. Webber, myself
and Thorpe took a walk between ii and 12 this
evening and returned a little after 12. I met with
one Mr. Broome, this evening of Brasenose College
very much in liquor and who talked rather saucily to
me, but I saw him to his Coll: and desired his company
to-morrow morning.

July 7th. I breakfasted, dined, supped and slept again
at College. Mr Broome waited on me this morning
with an epistle and I set him one of Swifts Sermons
to translate into Latin for the offence he was guilty
of. There was nothing done this morning at the
Theatre. We dined again at 2 o’cl: to day.

For Wine this afternoon in the M.C.R. pd. o. o 6
Went to the Theatre this afternoon and heard a
miscellaneous concert performed there pd o. 1. o
For Tea at Dick’s Coff. H between the
acts pd . . . . . . o. o 8

The Theatre yesterday and to-day very orderly.

For Books of performance each day pd . o. o. 6
After the Music took a walk in Merton Gardens which
was exceedingly crowded indeed. I spoke to two

135

1774

gentlemen in the garden for wearing green capes to
their coats.

For Wine this evening in M.C.R. . . o. o. 6

July 8. I breakfasted, dined, supped and slept again
at New College. Cooke Sen' and Townshend break-
fasted with me Went up into the schools at 2 o’clock
and heard 3 declamations for my Master Webber.^
Helliar dined in the Chequer and spent the afternoon
with us.

For Wine and fruit this aft and evening pd o. i. 6
Went to Chapel this evening at 5 o’clock. A quiet
day to-day, a great deal of company gone. Put
Mr. Peddle into the Black Book m these Words
‘ Johannes Peddle Superioris Ordinis Commensalis ex
auM beatae Mariae Virgims, quod publice in Theatro
Procuratoris deputatum in officio exequendo obstitit,
summaque contumaciS et contemptu academicae
authoritatis se gesserit ab omni gradu suspendatur
donee ad plenum satisficiet. Mensis Julii 7 1774
Jac: Woodforde Proc: Jun: Dep:’ Mr. Broome
brought the sermon I set him.

July 27. I breakfasted, dined, supped and slept again
at College. Cooke Sen' and Master Sen' breakfasted
with me. I sent a note to Mr. Bowerbank of Queen’s
this morning to desire him to dine with me to-day,
which he will.

Gave Bull’s Boy Gooby, this morning . o. o. 6
Mr. Hindl^, Dr. Thurlowe, Master of the Temple,
Dr. Burrows, Dr. Birchenden, and Mr. Bowerbank
dined and spent the afternoon with me at New
College. I borrowed the Chequer Room of the
Bursars for niy company to dme in. We were very

^ See pp. 158-62 for an account of the Oxford system in the eighteenth
century.

136

1774

merry and pushed the Bottle on very bristly. I gave
my Company for dinner, some green Pea Soup,
a chine of Mutton, some Nerv College Puddings,
a goose, some Peas and a Codlin Tart with Cream.
Madeira and Port Wine to drink after and at dmner
some strong Beer, Cyder, Ale and small Beer. Dr.
West spent part of the afternoon and supped and
spent the evening with me. I had a handsome dish
of fruit after dinner. At 7 o’clock we all went from
the Chequer to my Room where we had Coffee and
Tea. Dr. Birchenden went from us soon after coffee
and did not return agam. . . . Mr. Hindley, Dr.
Thurlowe, Dr. West, Dr. Burrows and Mr. Bowerbank,
supped and stayed with me till after one. Mr.
Hindley, Dr. Burrows, Mr, Bowerbank and myself got
to Cards after coffee. At whist I won i. o, 6

out of which, Mr. Hindley owes me . o. 5. o

I gave my company only for supper cold mutton.
After supper I gave them to drmk some Arrac Punch
with Jellies in it and some Port wine. I made all
my Company but Dr. West quite merry. We drank
8 bottles of Port one Bottle of Madeira besides Arrac
Punch, Beer and Cyder. I carried of my drinking
exceedingly well indeed.

Aug. 4th. I breakfasted, dined, supped and slept again
at College. Coker, Williams Jun*", Swanton, Town-
shend and Cooke Sen*' breakfasted with me this
morning. Paid my bedmaker Frank Paine half a year’s
waiting on me due June 24. 1774, this

morning i. 5. o

Dr. Burrows and Dr. Birchenden called on me this
morning and Dr. Burrows paid me for Mr.

Hmdley , . . . . o. 5. 6

Gave my Barber Jonathan, yesterday . o. 1. o

137

1774

Sent to the Warden to dme with us which he pro-
mised. The Warden dined, supped and spent the
evening with us. Four Horses started to-day, Capt:
Kelly’s Batchelor, Capt; Berties Piper, Sir Harry
Harper’s Freedom and Mr. Rawl’s Don Joseph.
I had Don Joseph in 4 Lotteries and Freedom m
a Lottery of ten People of half a crown each — I lost
the ^ first lotteries and won the last, as Freedom won
with ease.

1 lost therefore . . i. 12 o

and won i. 2. 6

So that I lost on the balance . o. 9. 6

I did not go to see the Race to-day but stayed at
home and played at Bowls with Jeffries and I beat
him and won of him o. 5. o

For Wine this afternoon in M.C.R. pd o. 2. o

Coker, Townshend, Dan Williams, Blisse, Dr. Wall
and Webber and myself made a very late night of it
being very jolly indeed. We sat up till near 4 in the
morning I fetched 3 Bottles of Wine out of my
Room after 12 o’clock For Wine besides in M.C.R.
this evenmg pd o. i. 6.

On September 6th he sets out for Ansford for a brief
visit.

Sept. 27. I breakfasted and supped and slept again at
Parsonage. Sister Jane, Sister White and Mr. Poun-
cett dined at Cole to-day. I took a ride this morning
to Shepton Mallet to see my dear Betsy White, but
she and her Father are gone to Bristol to-day so that
I only saw her Mother and that after dinner. I dined
and spent the afternoon at Mr. Figges’s with him, his
wife and old Mrs. Paine, who were all glad to see me

1^8

O. I. o

1774

Gave Mrs. Figges’s Maid
For my Mare and Hostler at Shepton pd
and gave . . . . . . o. i. o

I returned in the evening about 7 to Parsonage.

Oct. 6th. I breakfasted and dined at Parsonage. To
Mr. Owens my Barber for shaving and dressing my
Wiggs for me since I have been in the Country
pd ....... o. 6. o

Ih the afternoon I set forth for Bath to Oxford.
Mr. Pounsett went with me to Bath. We rode and
had the Boy with us to carry a portmanteau.

Gave Eliz: Crich our servant maid . . o. 2. 6

Gave Mary Crich, Alice Stacy and Pris-
cilla Jefferies this morning three poor
neighbours a shilling each ... 30

I left my Sister Jane very low indeed. I called at
Brother John’s as I went to Bath to take my leave of
him. Brother Heighes was at Jack’s. I gave my
Brother Heighes going away . . i. i. o

Mr. Pounsett gave me a leverett to carry with me.
We got to Bath in very good time about 7 o’clock.
We set off from Ansford about 2 o’clock. We stopped
and slept at the White Lion at Bath. We met Jack
Sampson in the Barr at the White Lion this evemng,
he asked us to dine with him to-morrow. Nothing
talked of at Bath but the General Election as the
Parliament was dissolved last week, — most places
busy in Election Works, new members to be chosen
all over the Kingdom in a month.

To Turnpikes to-day pd . . .0.1.0

The main issue at these elections was the American
issue, whether or not the American colonists should be
coerced into obedience in the quarrel which had arisen

139

1774

over taxation. To all intents and purposes, since the
Boston Tea Riot in December 1773, an uneasy armed
truce had existed. Boston Harbour had been closed by
Act of Parliament, and the Charter of Massachusetts had
been altered so as to depnve the colonists of a large part
of their liberties. This was m 1774, before the General
Election. The result of the elections was a triumphant
majority for the coercion policy of the King and Lord
North, a majority of nearly 200. This parhamentary
triumph ‘was greatly owing to the exertions of the
clergy ’. A little later Wesley also, in his ‘ calm address
to the American Colonists ’, powerfully supported the
Government. In the new Parliament, Chatham, Shel-
burne, and Burke fought a hopeless battle, and the
Lexington skirmish in April 1775 made war inevitable.^

On October 7 the Dianst leaves Bath and takes a post
chaise to Petty France ‘ I went from Petty France to
the Duke of Beaufort’s at Badminton to call on Dr. Penny,
as I had a letter from his brother to him, but he was not
at the Duke’s, however I met him in the Duke’s park
returnmg from his livmg, he desired me to return to
the Duke’s to dinner, but I did not like it as all the
family is there. I got to Tedbury about 4 o’clock where
I dined, supped and slept at the White Hart, a very
good Inn. I had the Leverett for dinner at Tedbury.’

Next day, October 8, he reached Oxford.

Oct. 13. I breakfasted, dined and slept again at College.
Coker, Master Sen*^ and Grantham breakfasted with
me this morning upon cocoa. Very low to-day
having a great purging upon me. ... I went to

^ Abbey and Overton, The Ei^luh Church, , vol 11, p. 33 , Lecky’s
Htstoiy of England,, vol iv, p 195 ; George Ill’s Infe m D N.B,; and
Wesley’s Journal, vol. iv, pp 60-1 (Everyman edition).

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1774

Chapel this evening at 5 o’clock. Had a letter from
Brother Heighes to let me know that our Brother
John was married to Miss Clarke of Evercreech Mon-
day last. Pray God they may be happy. At Back
Gammon this evening with Bhsse won o. 5. o. I took
some Rhubarb this evening about 10, and went to bed.

Oct. 15. ... I caught a remarkable large Spider in my
Wash Place this morning and put him in a small
glass decanter and fed him with some bread and
intend keeping him . . .

Nov. 5. I breakfasted, dined and slept again at College.
Master Sen' and Cooke breakfasted with me Paid
Miss Hall my Sempstress this morning . i. 3. o
For Wine this afternoon m M.C R. pd . o. o. 6
For Tobacco in M.C.R. at divers times pd o. o 6
I went to Prayers this evening at 5 o’clock in our
Chapel. There was a Sermon preached in our Chapel
by Mr. Crow this evening, being the 5 of November.
The Sermon was immediately before the Anthem.
The Warden received an account of the Death of
Dr. Ridley, Rector of one of our Livings in Norfolk,
by name Weston Longeville worth it is said ^300
per annum. I went to bed at 10 o’clock to-night.

This is the first reference to the Norfolk parish in
which he was to spend twenty-seven years of his life,
from 1776 to his death in 1803.

Nov. 8. ... Dr. Blackstone dined with the Bursar,
spent the aft. in M.C.R. supped, and spent the even-
ing with me in the Chequer. [Under Nov. 9 he notes,

‘ he kept me up late last night ’.] ^

^ By Dr Bkcbtone the Diarist presumably means the great Dr Black-
stone, Sir William (1723-80), who was Vinenan Professor of Law at

I4I

1774

Dec. 6. ... Master Sen’^ publickly declared this after-
noon in M.C.R. his intention of not taking the living
of Weston. I therefore immediately being the next
Senior in Orders canvassed the Senior Common Room,
and then "went with Master into the Jun*’ Common
Room and canvassed that. The Jun*^ Common Room
pretty full. . . .

Dec. 15. ... We had a meeting of the whole House in
the Hall at 12 o’clock, to present a Person to the
Living of Weston Longeville and to seal the remain-
ing Leases. The former came on first. Hooke and
myself were the two candidates proposed Many
learned and warm arguments started and disputed,
and after 2 hours debate the House divided and it
was put to the Vote, when there appeared for me
21 votes, for Mr Hooke 15 only, on which I was
declared and presented with the Presentation of the
Rectory. The chief speakers for me were the Warden,
Mr. Holmes, Mr. Webber, Mr. Gauntlett, and Dr.
Wall. The chief speakers for Mr. Hooke were
Mr. Caldecott, Mr. Coker Sen*^, Mr Adams, Mr.
Thorpe and Mr. Milton, the latter talked nothing
but nonsense. The Members present were as under-
written. [Note that the Diarist very sensibly votes
for himself ]

For Mr. Woodforde
The Warden
Master Sen'
Webber

For Mr. Hooke
Caldecot
Milton
Thorpe

Oxford from 1758-66 , he 11137, however, be referring (m this later
reference) to the son, who was also Vinenan Professor. It is said that
the great Dr Blackstone wrote his world-famous Cmmentanes with
a bottle of port always beside him to refresh his flagging energies. (See
D.N.B)

142

1774

For Mr. Woodforde

For Mr. Hooke

Woodforde

Adams

Lucas

Swanton

Bathurst Sen'

King

Oglander

Coker Sen'

Cooke

Eaton

Gauntlett

Trotman

WaU

Gratton

Townshend

Sandford

Blisse

Bingham

Holmes

Bathurst Jun'

Oakeley

Awberry

Williams Jun'

Coker Jun'

Cummin Sen'

Coothe

Bragge

Lowthe

Cummin Jun'

Busby

No. 21

No. 15

. . . I treated the Sen’' Com: Room with Wine and
Fruit in the afternoon and in the evening with Arrac
Punch and Wine. I treated the Jun" Com: Room
with one dozen of Wine afternoon and in the evening
with Arrac Punch and Wine. I gave the Chaplains
half a dozen of Wine, the clerks 2 bottles and the
Steward one bottle. I smoked a pipe in the afternoon
with Coker’s Father. A little after ii o’clock this
evening I went down into the Jun" Common Room
attended with Master Sen', Cooke, Adams, Town-
shend and Holmes to thank them for the favour con-
ferred on me. We stayed there till after 12 and
returned then to the Sen' Common Room and stayed

143

1774

till near 4 o’clock. We were exceeding merry in the
Jun*" Common Room and had many good songs sung
by Swanton, Wilhams Jun*' and Wight. And also
a very droll one by Busby, which occasioned great
laughter. The Jun' Common Room was exceeding
full and so was the Sen’’ both after dinner and supper.
Hooke dined with us Bursars and spent the afternoon
in M.C.R. In the evening he and Milton set off in
a Post Chaise for Wallingford.

1775. Jan. 2. I got up this morning between 5 and 7,
breakfasted in my rooms upon Cocoa and afterwards
went to the Cross Inn in the Corn Market, where
I got into the Bath Machine to go into the West
Country. Dr. Wall breakfasted with me and went
with me in the Bath Machine, it being a Frost so far
as Burford. Mr. Fisher of University Colh went with
us in the Machine as did one Sally Kirby, a servant
maid of one Mrs. Horwood of Holton near Ansford
who is now at Bath and bad in the gout. We stayed
at Whitney and made a second breakfast, we treated
the maid at Whitney, I pd o. 1.6, gave the porter
at the Cross Inn Oxford o. i. o. We then went on
to Burford where we stayed to change horses. Dr.
Wall left us at Burford and went to his Brother’s in
a Chaise about 13 miles from Burford. We took up
another servant maid at Whitney who went with us
to Cirencester. Mr. Fisher, myself and Mrs. Hor-
wood’s maid all go to Bath together. We dined at
Bibury and we treated the two maids. Fisher and
myself pd at Bibury o. 4. 6. We got to Cirencester
about 6 o’clock where we supped and slept at the Bull
there. The two maids supped and spent the evening
with us. Fisher and myself went to an auction of
Books this evening at Cirencester, the Auctioneer very

144

1775

saucy. I met with Brother Small [Free MasonJ at
the Auction Fisher and myself treated the two
maids pd o 6. o apiece this evening as we might not
be hindered to-morrow.

He stops a night in Bath, and therefore does not reach
Ansford till the 4th. He remains at Ansford till February
1st. Nothing very eventful happens. He is much
pleased with Brother John’s newly wed wife, though
Brother John himself continues to cause him aftxiety on
account of his rather excessive regard for the bottle.
Squire Creed, the younger, dies, and there is a great
funeral at which the Diarist was a principal Mourner :

‘ Tlie Mourners had only sattin Hatbands and gloves ’,
still ‘ it was a handsome Funeral and Church full ’. The
Diarist is a little disappointed in the will, as no mention
is made of the Ansford estate which his, the Diarist’s,
Aunt Collins, had left away from her family by’ giving
it to Squire Creed, and which the latter had promised
‘ should revert to her family again ’. He finds a new
sort of Social Club started in Cary, the gentlemen and
the ladies meeting separately at each others houses every
Thursday. There is the usual constant round of mutual
visiting and entertainment which is so marked and pleasant
a feature of country life at this period. On January 28th
he rides over to Shepton Mallett and calls on ‘ Mr. White
at Shepton, but Betsy White was not at home, she being
in Devonshire at Mr. Troit’s and is to remain there till
Easter — ^was told ’. Of the unfortunate results of this
Devonshire visit of Betsy’s— -unfortunate for our faithful
Diarist — ^we shall hear anon.

Feb. ist. I breakfasted and dmed at Parsonage, and
at one o’clock set of for Oxford in Ansford Inn Chaise

H5

I,

1775

. . . gave a boy from Bruton for bringing a Hare
o. I. o which I carried with me, sent by Mr. Masey
to Mr. P. I left all our folks rather low on my
gomg away. ... I put up at the Angel in West-gate
Street Bath where I supped and slept. I met
Mr. Parfitt of Wells, the Bishop’s Secretary at my
Inn at Bath and he supped and spent the evening
with me. He told me that I should have my Testi-
monium as soon as possible, it is now with the Bishop
at London. . . . N.B. The Bath Coach for to-morrow
for Oxford quite full, so that I forfeit my half guinea
that I paid some time back, and must go to Oxford
some other way, as I did not come last week. How-
ever I met with a young gentleman from Devon at
my Inn, who is going to Oxford, by name Coleridge
of Ottery St. Mary, and we agreed to take a Chaise
to-morrow between us for Oxford. So far so good.
He is of Christchurch Coll, on the Students List and
Dr. Kennicott there is his great friend. He spent
the evening with us at the Angel Inn. . . .

Next day the Diarist and Mr. Coleridge proceed to
Oxford, which they reach between 7 and 8 o’clock,
changing horses four times — at the Cross Hands, Tetbury,
Bibury, and Whitney. ‘ The whole cost us apiece about
£ 1 . 14. 6. . . . The Hare that I brought with me [I] gave
the Warden.’

The Mr. Coleridge who thus travelled to Oxford with
the Diarist was WiUiam Colendge, one of the eight
brothers of the celebrated Samuel, who at this date was
not three years old. William himself was born on
March 8, 1758. His father was the Reverend John
Coleridge, Vicar of Ottery St. Mary. William matricu-
lated at Christ Church as Servitor on June 3, 1774, and

146

1775

was admitted as Scholar at Wadham, September ^o, 1777.
He took his B.A. degree in 1779, and his M.A. in the
following year, before the close of which he died. Shortly
before his death he had been ordained. He was an
excellent scholar, and apparently ‘ drudged like an emmet ’
at Oxford. Lord Coleridge says : ‘ He took life senously.
He would not have the buckles brother James the soldier
sent him, and took the lace off his best shirt so as not to
appear informally or uncanonicaEy.’ ^ His ‘ great Friend’,
Dr. Kennicott, was the foremost Hebrew Biblical scholar
of his time, and was an old friend of his father, the Vicar
of Ottery St. Mary, who may also be called the founder
of the very distinguished house of Coleridge.

Feb. 7. . . . Sent a letter this aft: to my curate Mr.
Howes of my Living of Weston m Norfolk. . . . Had
a letter this evening from Mr. Peddle of Sussex con-
cerning his name being in the Black Book. He was
very submissive and penitent in this last.

Feb. 17. . . . Mr. Peddle gent. Com* St. Mary Hall
whose name is in the black Book put in by me in July
last, waited on me this morning to desire me to take
his name out of the same, which I promised to do
upon his bringing me a Declamation on — ^Nemo
omnibus horis sapit, and asking pardon of Highway
of Baliol, . . .

Feb. 20. ... Mr. Peddle brought me his Declamation
this morning. I went to Highway of Baliol about
him, and he is satisfied, therefore this aft* I seat to
the Sen' Proctor for the black Book and erased his
name, and put satisfecit.

Feb, 28. ... I supped and spent the evening at Braze-

1 fbeSiory of a Devonshire House S 2-4), by Lord Coleridge, K.C, ;

Foster’s Alumm Oxomenses

L 2

H7

1775

Nose Coll: with Brother Wood, we supped in the
Hall and spent the evening in the Sen' Com: Room.
... It being Shrove Tuesday we had Lambs Wool
to drink, a composition of Ale, sugar etc , Lobsters,
Pancakes etc., to eat at Supper, and the Butler there
gives a Plumb Cake with a copy of Verses of his own
making upon it. . . .

March 13. ... At half past eleven this morning went
with Cooke to see George Strop ^ hanged, — ^who was
hung about a qr before one o’clock near the Castle.
He confessed (just as he came out of the castle) the
crime for which he suffered, but not before. He
pulled up his cap two or three times to delay. A
Methodist prayed by him in the Cart for some time
under the GaUows. He seemed full hardy. It is
said that he declared yesterday, if he had only his
Liberty for one qr of an hour, he would employ it
in murdering of his wife. I think I never saw such
sullenness and villainy in one face. Jack Ketch kissed
him twice before he went of. His body was carried
to Dr. Parson’s to be dissected and anatomised pur-
suant to the sentence. I do believe that there were
more than six thousand spectators present when he
was hanged. I took to two gentlemen there for
wearing different capes to their coats, than the coats
were of.

On April 9 he enters that he is very busy packing up
for ‘ my Norfolk Expedition ’ — an expedition to take
possession of his living at Weston. This is a temporary
visit, as he does not go*into residence till over a year
later.

^ ‘A shoemaker, an hardened villain who mnrdered hia Master at
Bicester * (entry under March 10).

148

1775

April lo. I breakfasted in my room this morning at
7 o’clock upon some chocolate as did Cooke with me.
After breakfast about 8 o’clock I set of in Jones’s Post
Coach for the City of London. Cooke went with me
in the same, and I promised to frank him all the way
to Norfolk as he goes to oblige me. Mrs. Prince and
Osborn Wight of our Coll: went with us to London
in the Machine or Post-Chaise. We all dined together
at Maidenhead Bridge and then proceeded on to
London For Cooke and myself at Maidenhead pd
o. 8. o. For the remaimng fare for Cooke and myself
pd o. 15. o. We got to London about six o’clock
Cooke and myself then took a Hackney Coach and
went to the Turk’s Head Coffee House in the Strand
opposite Catherine Street, kept by one Mrs. Smith,
a Widow and a good motherly kind of a woman, her
person and talking very much hke Mrs. Carr of
Twickenham and there we supped and slept. To the
Oxford coachman gave o. 2. o. For an Hackney
Coach to the Turk’s Head pd o. 3* o* We went in
the evening to Mr. Burns in Duke Street, West-
minster, Secretary to the Bishop of Norwich to
leave my papers with him and to desire the Bishop
to give me Institution to-morrow, but he told me
that he thought the Bishop wd not so soon. Tren-
chard and Lovel late of the University supped ar^ fl
spent the evening with us at the Turk’s Head. Mrs.
Prince was a very agreable and merry Traveller.

April IX. We breakfasted, dined, supped and slept again
at the Turk’s Head Coffee House. At ii o’clock this
morning I went in my gown in an Hackney Coach to
Upper Grosvenor Street to the Bishop of Norwich
but he was not within. I spoke to his man. For the
Hackney Coach back and forward pd o. 3. 6. At

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1775

12 Cooke and myself took a walk to Westminster
Abbey, to the Horse Guards, to the Mell etc. We
dined by ourselves at the Turk’s Head. In the even-
ing we went and called at Mr. Strahan’s, the King’s
Printer, where Mrs. Prince is, to talk with her about
going to Norwich. We lounged about afterwards till
supper time. I saw Brereton and Courtney at the
Coffee House to-day.

April 12. We breakfasted, supped and slept again at
the Coffee House. I went to the Bishop of Norwich
this morning, found his Lordship at home. Dr. Salter
with him, rec^ my letters of Institution and was
instituted very soon, his Lordship behaved exceed-
ingly handsome and free. Paid his Secretary, Mr.
Burn, for the same 4. 17 6 Gave his Lordship’s
servant o. 5. o. . . . The Bishop of Norwich is a short
fat man. . . . We settled with Mrs. Prince this even-
ing about going to Norwich to-morrow morning, we
aie to go in a Post Chaise. . . .

April 13. Cooke, myself, Mrs. Prince and one Mrs.
Millard who has a Brother at Norwich, a Minor
Canon, set of this morning early in an hired Post
Chaise and four for Norwich over Epping Forest. At
the Turk’s Head Coffee House for myself and Cooke
paid and gave to servants etc., 3. o. We changed
Horses and Coach at the bull-faced Stagg, on Epping
Forest, and went on to Harlowe where we were
obhged to take chaises. From Harlowe we went on
to Stanstead, where we had some Wine and Egg, and
fresh Chaises. From Stanstead we went on to Bourne
Bridge, took fresh Chaises and went on to New
Markett where we dined and then went on in fresh
Chaises to Barton Mills where we changed again and
then on again to Thetford where we drank coffee and

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1775

then went on to Attleborough, and then on to
Norwich where we got, I thank God safe and well
about II at night. We all supped and spent the
evening together at the King’s Head ^ in the Market
Place, Norwich. It being after lo when we got to
Norwich we found the City Gates shut. We did not
get to bed tUl after 2 in the morning. . . . From
London to Norwich, 109 miles, and the best of roads
I ever travelled.

April 14. We breakfasted, dined, supped and slept at
Norwich. We took a walk over the City in the morn-
ing, and we both agreed that it was the finest City
in England by far, in the center of it is a high Hill
and on that a prodigious large old Castle almost
perfect and forms a compleat square, round it is a fine
Terrass Walk which commands the whole City. There
are in the City 36 noble Churches mostly built with
Flint, besides many meeting Houses of divers sorts.
A noble River runs almost thro the Center of the
City. The City walls are also very perfect and all
round the City but where the River is. On the Hills
round the City stand many Wind Mills about a dozen,
^to be seen from Castle Mount. We drank Tea and
Coffee in the afternoon with Mr Millard and his
Wife, Dr. Salter’s daughter, in the Lower Close.
Mrs. Prince and Mr. Millard there also. After tea
we got to Quadrille — ^lost o. i. o. Mrs. Millard is
a very impolite lady, rather rude. We supped and
spent the evening and slept at our Inn. Our journey
from London to Norwich cost ^i i 14. 4 which I paid,

^ We shall hear of the King’s Head constantly hereafter, as the Diarist
always stayed there when he went into Norwich from Weston. Alas, it
18 no longer in existence. I searched the Market Place in Norwich for
It in vam

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1775

half oi which I reed this afternoon from Mrs. Prince
and Mr. Millard’s brother — ^^5. 17. o.

April 15. We breakfasted at our Inn at Norwich and
about 12 we set forth for Living at Weston in
a Chaise. At Norwich at Inn this morning pd
2. 2. o Chaise etc to Weston included. We got to
Weston which is about 9 miles from Norwich by
2 o’clock in the afternoon where we dined, supped
and slept at the Parsonage House. To Turnpike and
Driver from Norwich to Weston pd 2. o. My curate
Mr. Howes came to us in the afternoon. Bed etc.,
all in readiness for us when we came We earned with
us some Wine and Cyder from Norwich.

April 16. We breakfasted, supped and slept at Weston
Parsonage. A man and his wife, by name Dunnell
live at the Parsonage House and are good kind of
people. We went to Church this morning at Weston,
and Cooke read Prayers and preached for Mr. Howes.
I also administered the H: Sacrament this morning at
Weston Church being Easter Day — I had near 40
Communicants. N.B. No money collected at the
Sacrament, it not being usual at Weston. My clerk
is a shocking Hand. The worst singing I ever heard
in a Church, only the Clerk and one man, and both
intolerably bad. Mrs. Howes and her niece Mrs. Davy
were at Church and they would make us get into their
Chaise after Church and go vdth them to Hockering
to Mr. Howes, where we dined and spent the after-
noon and came back to Weston in the evening in
Mr. Howes’s Chaise about 8 o’clock — Gave his driver
I. o. Mr. Howes’ is about 2 miles West of Weston
Cooke likes my House and Living very much. For
my part I think it a very good one indeed. I sleep
in the Garrett at Weston as I would not let Cooke

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1775

sleep there, but immediately under in the New
Bmldmg which is very good. Cooke is mightily
pleased with his Scheme [i. e. the whole expedition].

The Diarist and his friend Cooke remain together at
Weston till April 26. The time is taken up in viewing
the glebe, making expeditions, interchanging visits with
the Howes’, transacting on the Diarist’s part a variety of
ecclesiastical business, such as being inducted by Mr.
Howes, taking the Oath of Abjuration ^ before the
Justices at Norwich, reading the 39 Articles in Weston
Church before a crowded congregation, and ‘ declaring
my assent and consent to the Liturgy
On April 26 they go to Norwich for two days, see
a Play one mght, and the sights of Yarmouth the next :
this last expedition is described as follows :

April 27. We got up pretty early this morning and at
7 o’clock we got into the Yarmouth Coach to go to
Yarmouth about 22 miles from Norwich. We break-
fasted on the road, and got to Yarmouth about
II o’clock where we dined and spent the afternoon
at the Sign of the Wrestlers kept by one Orton, near
the Markett Place We each took a Yarmouth Coach
just big enough for one person and drove down to
the Port, and so upon the Sea Coast close to the Sea,
the German Ocean, out of which I drank. We were
close to the Sea and sometimes the water came up to
us. It is a sweet Beach. Upon the Port we saw the

^ The Oath of Abjuration was imposed by the Abjuration Act of 1702,
and IS a reminder of the Jacobite nightmare which haunted the eighteenth
century, though but feebly in the latter part of it The oath abjuring
the descendants of James II was by the Act of 1702 made a necessary
qualification for every employment in Church or State (Stanhope’s ^he
Retgn of Queen Anne, vol, 1, pp, 36-7, 1908 edition).

IS3

1775

Porpoises playing in the German Ocean. The tide
was going out. We had a very fine day. After we
returned from the Sea we went to the Church and
saw that, and heard I think the finest Organ I ever
did hear, the Organist, Mr. Chicheley, stone blind
played on it. Between 3 and 4 this afternoon we
got into the same coach and returned to Norwich
about 7 o’clock. Yarmouth is a sweet place indeed,
the key very fine. For our breakfast on the road this
morning pd o. i. 6. For our Dinner, Coaches etc.,
at Yarmouth I pd o. ii. o. The Yarmouth coaches
are very droll tHngs indeed. The wheels very low
and directly under the seat, the shafts very clumsy
and very long and up in the air. A very small matter
will overturn them, being so very narrow, and not
more than a foot from the ground. For our Fare to
Yarmouth and back again each pd 0. 8. o. Gave the
Coachman — each of us o. i o. We supped and spent
part of the evening at Mr. Priest’s near the Markett
Place, Norwich, with him, his wife and Mrs. Davy
who seems to be fond of Mr. Cooke. She is a very
young widow but has two children. We returned to
our Inn about 10 o’clock where we drank a bottle
of Clarett, this being Cooke’s birthday, for which he
paid, and then we went to bed. We were highly
pleased with our Scheme to-day

The next day Cooke leaves him to go and stay with
his brother-in-law, a Captain Uvedale, at Boxmoor
House, near Needham in Suffolk, where the Diarist is to
rejoin him in about ten days’ time. Meanwhile he
returns to Weston, and is busy making' arrangements for
receiving his tithes and lettmg his glebe. ‘ My plan is to

154

1775

ask 3 in the Acre throughout the Parish, and to let my
Glebe Tithe free for i8r od. ditto.’ Then there is the
valuation of the late Rector’s goods, and of course, the
appalling question of dilapidations, as great a nightmare
in the eighteenth century as to-day. It is, I think, the
gravest possible reflection on ecclesiastical organization
in matters financial, that some scheme has not been
introduced long since to settle, on some reasonable
basis, what is a perpetual source of anxiety and dispute.
In this case the Diarist’s valuer, Mr. Frost, a master
builder of Norwich, estimates the Weston dilapidations
at 3^175 2J-. 6i., a very high figure if translated into
modern* values. There ensues, of course, the mevitable
dispute between the Diarist and the late Rector’s widow,
who, also, of course, is badly off.

On May 9th the Diarist joins his friend Cooke at
Boxmoor, about thirty-seven miles from Norwich. Cooke
met him and ‘ conducted me to Boxmoor House to his
Brother-m-Law’s, Captam Sam* Uvedale, who has a most
noble House and a very fine Estate round the same. . . .
I dined, supped and slept at Captain Uvedale’s, with
him, his wife and Mr. Cooke. Everythmg very elegant.
Captam Uvedale and Lady behaved exceedingly civil and

polite to me indeed . . . very agreeable People ’ Here

he spends a most pleasant week, visiting Ipswich and
going out m the Captain’s ‘ Chariot ’ to call on various
neighbours and relatives of the Captain’s. On Sunday
he hears ‘ a very indifferent sermon ’ from the Curate
at Needham, but next day is compensated as ‘ Capt.
Uvedale, myself and Cooke took a walk to Needham m
the evening and smoked a Pipe there with a Shop-keeper
by name Marnott a very hearty man ’.

May 16. We got up at 5 o’clock and at 6 Cooke and

IS5

1775

myself -went in the Captain’s Chariot for Ipswich to
go in the Ipswich Post Coach for London to-day.
The Captain was up as soon as us to give orders. We
took our leave of Mrs. Uvedale last night. I left
in my Bed Chamber on the Table o. lo. 6 for the
Captam’s Chambermaid. We got to Ipswich by
7 o’clock. Gave the Coachman and Servant Boy
o. lo. o. For the Captam he took a ride a different
way. I never met with more civility anywhere than
I have done at Captain Uvedale’s, his Lady very
agreeable. At 7 this morning we got into the Ipswich
Post Coach for London. . . .

He and Cooke stay two nights m London at the Turk’s
Head. On the i8th whilst walking in St. James’s Park,
‘ the King and Queen with their guards went by us in
Sedan Chairs from the Queen’s Palace to St James’s
Palace, there being a Levee at St. James’s to-day at
I o’clock. The King did not look pleasant but the Queen
did.’ The entry continues :

May 18. ... In our return back I lost my companion
Cooke and therefore I took a walk by myself to West-
minster Hall, where I saw the Lord Chancellor pre-
sidmg in the Court of Chancery and Lord Mansfield
in the King’s Bench.^ I saw there also Peckham,

^ The Courts of Chancery and Kings Bench were held in Westminster
Hall till well into the nineteenth century Between 1824 and 1827
Sir John Soane built some new Law Courts at the west end of the Hail,
which were used till the great buildings in the Strand were completed
in 1882 Soane’s buildings at Westminster were afterwards demolished.
The Lord Chancellor at this time was Lord Bathurst (1714-94), his term
of office comprising the years 1771-9 It has been said that he was the
least effiaent Lord Chancellor of the last century, and Lord Campbell
observed that the building of Apsley House * was perhaps the most memor-

156

1775

Head, Caldecott etc , all in their great Wiggs and
gowns with a hundred more. In the afternoon we
went and saw the exhibition of Pictures in the Strand
pd o. 2. o. From thence we went to Covent Garden
Theatre and saw a Play (the Merchant of Venice and
for the entertainment Love a la mode). The Theatre
quite full being Miss Machlin’s Benefit. None of the
Royal Family there. We sat in the Prince of Wales’s
Box Cooke having two tickets from a Miss Saville
who took the whole box, we each pd o. 5. o. Many
returned, there being no room for them. Mr. Machhn
acted Shylock in the Play and very well. Shuter,
Quicke, and Woodward, capital Players also. Love
a la mode (Author Mr. Machlin) is a very merry
and cheerful Entertainment indeed. We separated
coming out of the Play House and Cooke went home
by himself and I by myself. I met many fine women
(Common Prostitutes) m my return home, and very
impudent indeed. The Turk’s Head very full after
the Play. Thorpe etc., etc., there this evening.

Next day they return to Oxford, and so ends this very
pleasant six weeb’ jaunt.

June 2. . . Selstone and myself settled our affairs

concerning our being Masters of the Schools for the
last year to-day before diimer. I had reed for Liceats
£ 12 . 12. o Selstone had reed for Liceats £24. 6. o.
So that the whole reed by both for Liceats £36. 18. o.
Out of which we deducted for the Collectors of

able act in the life of Lord Chancellor Bathurst ’ The Lord Chief Justice,
on the other hand, William Murray, first Earl of Mansfield (1705-93)
IS too eminent and well known to need a note (For Westminster Hall,
see Wheatley and Cunningham, London Past and Present, vol 111. For
Bathurst and Mansfield, the D N.B)

157

1775

Austins having had 41 Setts in the year at u. 6 d
each ;f3. i. o, remaining therefore to be divided
£33. 17. o which gave to each of us for Liceats only
fj. 6 . 18. 6. Selstone paid me to make mme equal
17. o. N.B. We are each to receive besides at
Michadmas from the Vice Chancellor £5. o. o. So
that I shall make in the whole for my being Master
of the Schools last year £32 18. 6. . . . Selstone went
away pretty full from my room. . . .

This statement of the profits made by the Diarist as
Master of the Schools would be entirely unintelligible
without some account of the University system in the
eighteenth century. The following remarks may clear
up some obscurities

It is generally admitted that the Universities of
Oxford and Cambridge do not show at their best in
the eighteenth century. Scholars, of course, there were,
and not a few of them, whose lustre is as bright to-day
as it was then, but the general light was dim.

Our good friend. Bishop Watson of Llandaff, blaster
of rocks in Westmoreland, thus describes his qualifica-
tions for the Professorship of Chemistry at Cambridge, to
which he was unanimously elected by the Senate in
1764 : ‘ At the time this honour was conferred upon me
I knew nothing at all of Chemistry, had never read
a syllable on the subject, nor seen a single experiment
in it ; but I was tired with mathematics and natural
philosophy, and the “ vehementissima gloriae cupido ”
stimulated me to try my strength in a new pursuit, and
the kindness of the University (it was always kind to me)
animated me to very extraordinary exertions.’ A few
years later he was made Regius Professor of Divinity : ‘ On
being raised to this distinguished office, I immediately

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1775

applied myself with great eagerness to the study of
Divinity.’ In 1748 Lord Chesterfield wrote to his son :
‘ What do you think of being Greek Professor at one of
the Universities ? It is a very pretty sinecure and
requires very little knowledge, much less than I hope
you have already of that language.’

Lord Eldon said : ‘ An examination for a degree at
Oxford was a farce in my time. I was examined in
Hebrew and History : “ What is the Hebrew for the
Place of a Skull ? ” said the Examiner. “ Golgotha,”
I replied. “ Who founded University College ? ” I
answered, “ King Alfred.” “ Very well, sir,” said the
Examiner, “ then you are competent for your degree.” ’
This was in 1770.

The mediaeval curriculum, the ‘ Trivium ’, which
consisted of grammar, logic, and rhetoric, and the
‘ Quadrivium ’ of music, arithmetic, geometry, and
astronomy, had degenerated in the eighteenth century
into a system of declamations and disputations thereon.
Oxford specialized in the ‘Trivial’, with the addition
of some classics, history, and philosophy, and Cambridge
in the * quadrivial ’ subjects. The Cambridge system
(I speak as a Cambridge man, but the fact is, I think,
not disputed) was more efficient in the eighteenth
century, and certainly mathematics were genuinely
studied, and real examinations held. If we are to beheve
Dr. Vicisimus Knox (and Lord Eldon, quoted above),
who took his M.A degree in 1779 Oxford, the esamina-
tions for the B.A. and M.A degrees at that University
were mere mockeries. Readers who wish to enjoy a pro-
longed laugh should read Knox’s brilliantly witty de-
scription of the Oxford system in his essay, * On some
parts of the Disciplme in our English Universities.’ ^

^ Essays Moral and Literaryy V. Knox, 1782

IS9

1775

According to the University Statutes the Oxford
course for the B.A, degree consisted of :

I. Disputationes in parviso — commonly Imown as
‘Generals’, or disputations on three questions in grammar
or logic.

II. Answering under a Bachelor, that is to say more
disputations upon three questions in grammar, rhetoric,
ethics, politics, or logic, a B.A. takmg the office of
Moderator.

III. An examination in grammar, rhetoric, logic,
ethics, geometry, Greek, and Latin ; the candidate
chose his own examiners — ^three of them, and then got
a ‘ Liceat ’ for the examination from the Proctor or
Master of the Schools. The examination was held
privately.

The statutory course for the M A. degree consisted of :

I. Determination, i. e. Disputations on the ‘ Trivial ’
subjects.

II. Disputationes apud Augustinenses — commonly
known as ‘ Austins ’, more disputations, the candidate
and the Master of Schools being alone. The Proctor
appointed a B.A. as his ‘Collector in Austins’, who
matched the ‘ disputants ’ at his discretion. In the
Middle Ages the Oxford scholars had ‘ disputed ’ thus
with the Augustinian monks.

III. Disputationes Quodlibeticae — more disputations.

IV. Sex Solennes Lectiones — or ‘ pro forma ’ disserta-
tions on natural and moral philosophy, commonly known
as ‘ Walls ’, because no one — except possibly a Proctor —
was there to hear, and the candidate addressed the walls.

V. Binae Declamationes, exercises in composition.

VI. Examination as for B.A., with a slight variation in
the subjects.

i6o

1775

It was upon the whole of these exercises and the
manner of their execution that the witty Vicisimus Knox
poured — to use his own excellent phrase — ‘ the utmost
poignancy of ridicule.’

The ‘ declamations ’ in Chapel to which the Diarist so
often refers, were required to be held by the College
authorities, and were not technically a part of the degree
course. In so far as these Latin compositions were the
work of the declaiming student himself, they were
probably very useful intellectual exercises, and the testi-
mony of the Dianst is noteworthy both as to the subject
of these declamations and their frequency.

It is always easy to criticize, and* the Universities in
the eighteenth century undoubtedly expose their flanks
to the cntic’s attack. But it is pertinent to observe that
if that system could be notoriously abused by the lazy,
stupid, or unscrupulous student, it at least had this merit,
that It left the student who had a brain really worth
cultivating to cultivate it himself. At present there is,
perhaps, some danger of the frequent lecture system
developing into a sort of frenzy, in which lecturer vies
with lecturer in pouring information into the student
with an eye always on the inevitable examination, and
rivers of outpoured information are of less value than
the smallest spring of knowledge which the student has
sought, and found himself.

The career of Bishop Watson is at once an illustration
of the defects and merits of the eighteenth-century
University system The frank statements of the Bishop
(already quoted) have been used by critics of that system
as supporting their case. So, of course, they do. But the
critics — or some of them — fail to bring out that, in the ■
case of Bishop Watson, better appointments to either
Chair — of Chemistry and Divinity — ^have seldom been

i6i M

1775

made ^ Bishop Watson’s researches in chemistry were of
great scientific importance, and he was, a few years after
his appointment to the Chair of Chemistry at Cambridge,
unanimously elected a Fellow of the Royal Society — ^in
1769 As an apologist of Christianity he was much
respected by Gibbon, whose animadversions on the
Christian religion the Bishop had vigorously countered
Few more brilliant or broad-minded men have ever sat
upon the Episcopal Bench, and not the least of Lord
Shelburne’s good acts was his promotion of Dr. Richard
Watson to the bishopric of Llandaff in 1782,®

June 13. ... A Chinese man about 25 years of age

attended by a multitude of People came to see our
College and Gardens this morning, I was in the
garden with him. He talks English very well. He

^ Mr Winstanley in his recent book, University of Cambridge in the
Eighteenth Century (pp 5-6), does the Bishop less than justice m merely
describing him as ^in many ways a very favourable specimen of an
eighteenth-century Professor \ who ^ appears conscientiously to have dis-
charged his duties as a teacher ^

^ Scholae Academicae the studies of the English Universities in the
Eighteenth Century ^ Christopher Wordsworth, 1877 , also Social Life at
the English Universities in the Eighteenth Century ^ by the same author,
1874

The English Church in the Eighteenth Century^ Abbey and Overton, 1878

The Church in England from William III to Victoria^ A H Hore, 1886

Anecdotes of the Life of Richard Watson^ Bishof of Llandaff^ vol 1, passim

Essays Moral and Literary^ V Knox, 1782

The Report of the Royal Commission on Oxford and Cambridge (the
Asquith Commission), 1922

The University of Cambridge in the Eighteenth Century, D A. Win-
stanley, 1922.

Of these authorities I found Christopher Wordsworth’s Scholae Aca*
demicae the most useful for my purpose • it is crammed with information
For a compendious account of Bishop Watson’s career, see the excellent
notice in the D. N B See also my remarks on this Bishop on pp 38-9.

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1775

had on his head a Cap like a Bell covered with a red
Feather and tyed under his Chin, a kind of a Close
Coat on his back of pink Silk quilted, over that
a loose Gown of pink silk quilted also, which came
down to his heels, and over that a black Gauze or
Crape in imitation of a long Cloak, a pr of Breeches
or drawers of pink silk also and quilted, and a kind
of silk Boots of the same colour and quilted also, and
a pr of red Morocco Slippers. His hands were also
covered with some thin silk of pink. He had a Fan
tyed to a Sash before him. He was of a moderate
stature, a tawny complexion, black hair tyed in a kind
of tail, small eyes, short nose, no beard, in short as
to his whole Face, it was uncommonly ugly, not
unlike one of the runabout gipsies. . . . After prayers
I went with Acton one of our Gent: Com* to have
my Profile taken of by a Lady who is come to town
and who takes of great likenesses I was not above
a minute sitting for the same. . .

June 23. ... This morning about 6 o’clock it pleased
God to take to himself my worthy friend young
Seymour [the son of the Dean of Wells, Lord Francis
Seymour, whom we met at the Deanery some time
back] and I hope he is now eternally happy in Thy
Kingdom O Lord. Everybody that knew him, re-
spected him much, and therefore is as greatly lamented
by his friends. He was an amiable young man indeed,
and a very good and dutiful son. Pray God comfort
his distressed Parents and Friends for so great and
valuable a loss in him He took his Batchelor’s
degree but Thursday Sennight. . . .

June 29. . . . Whilst Dr. Wall and self were at the
[Freemasons’] Lodge, it was proposed in the Sen"^
Com. Room by Daubenny and Jeffries and carried by

163 u 2

1775

a great majority, that Mr. Masters and Mr Bathurst,
should not treat this evening for their Livings as
usual, but give five guineas or so, to the Library or
for plate. I cannot say but I was much displeased at
it. . . . In the night there was a great riot in College
by the Junior People who broke down Daubenny’s
doors and broke Jeffries windows . . .

June 30. ... A complaint being made to the Warden
of the Riot last night in College, — the Deans were
summoned to the Warden’s lodgings this morning to
consider of the same, but none of the young gentle-
men that were concerned in the same, not being to
be met with, the meeting was put off till to-morrow
morn. . . .

Next day the meeting was accoidingly held — the
Diarist being present as one of the Deans — and the
principal offenders in the affair of the riot were punished
by confinement for varymg periods, and impositions.
The Diarist observes : ‘ For my part, I must own it did
not deserve so serious a determmation or attention to
the same. . . .’

July 13. I breakfasted, dined, supped, and slept again
at College. Bell one of our Fellows was at Masters
rooms this morning, who -informed me of the same
and I went and saw him, walked in the garden with
him, and had him to my room afterwards, and he
stayed with me till dinner time. I asked him to dine
with us but he would not. He asked me to eat a bit
of dinner with him at his Inn, but he did not seem
to be fond of my accepting his invitation therefore
I declined going with him — I parted with him at
3 — ^He appears to me to be quite cracked-brained and

164

1775

abuses the New Testament much but greatly praises
the Bible and the Jews — a very strange Fellow. He
IS grown quite fat, wears a black Wigg with 3 curls
without any powder in it. I have not seen him before
as I know for the last ten years. . .

July 17. At 5 o’clock this morning went to the Cross
Inn, and got mto the Bath coach for the West . .

a Mr. Crocker of Wadham College, a Mrs. Tompkins
wife of Mr. Tompkms the grocer m the Corn-Markett,
Oxford, and her httle girl by name Sukey, a very
pretty little girl about ll years old, were all the
passengers. Mrs Tompkms and her little Maid are
going into Cornwall to Bodmin to see her sistei who
married Mr. Pickermg formerly a Chaplain of New
Coll. I knew him. We breakfasted at Burford, dmed
at Cirencester, and drank tea in the afternoon at
the Cross Hands, and got into Bath about 8 o’clock
m the evening For breakfast, dmner, and tea in
the afternoon I paid 0. 8. o. as I treated Mrs. Tomp-
kins’ little girl all the way Crocker took his leave
of us at the Cross Hands — ^he went from thence for
Bristol — he is a strange gemus. For the remaining
part of the Fare [he had paid already 10s. 6 d. half
fare m advance] and Luggage pd o. 14. o., gave to
the coachmen as we had two o. 2. o. I supped and
slept at the Angel m Westgate Street — Bath. Mrs.
Tompkins and little Maid did the same — both much
tired.

July 18. I breakfasted at the Angel with Mrs. Tomp-
kins and daughter. After breakfast I took a chaise
for Ansford, Mrs. Tompkins and daughter took
another chaise for Wells. We travelled together so
far as Old Downe and then we parted — ^Mrs. Tomp-
kins is a very good kind of woman. At Bath for

165

1775

supper last night and breakfast I pd. o. 6. o. Gave
to a Barber at Bath this morning o. i. o. I took
a walk over Bath this morning with Miss Tompkins.
Gave the Chamber Maid o. i. o. To the Boot-
Catch and Waiter gave o. i . 6 For my Chaise to Old
Downe pd. o. lo. 6. To the Driver and Turnpikes
pd. o. 2. o. At Old Downe we had a glass of white
wine together and then I went in a fresh Chaise to
Ansford and Mrs. Tompkins and daughter for Wells.
For Old Downe Chaise to Ansford pd. o. lo. 6. To
the Driver and Turnpikes pd. o. 2. o. I got to
Ansford to the Old House about 3 o’clock where
I dined, supped and slept at the Parsonage House.
I was very glad to find Mr. Pounsett was alive [he
had been very ill] but he is still very bad indeed, not
able to move at all. I am afraid he will not get the
better of it — but he is much better than he was, as
they told me. My poor sister is as well as can be
expected. She has a very pretty little maid about
two months old

The period of nearly three months at Ansford which
follows is, but for one very important episode, uneventful.
Brother John continues to cause him anxiety, and there is
an additional cause of feeling in that the patient Diarist,
having received no rent from Brother John for three
years in respect of the estate left him by his Mother, not
unnaturally deades that he must seek another tenant.
Mr. Pounsett recovers from his illness and during
convalescence wheels himself about in the garden in
a bath chair, one of the kind with a httle wheel fitted
in to turn by hand. I confess I did not realize that this
convenient contrivance was as old, or older than, 1775*
On August 25th a neighbour was tried at Wells Assizes

166

1775

on the charge o£ murdering his wife, and was condemned
to be hung hy the judge, who did not leave the hall during
the whole ten hours of the trial. The Diarist was sum-
moned as a witness to testify to the prisoner’s character,
but his name being called while he was having some dinner
— ^his endurance not equalling the judge’s — ^he failed to
appear. As, however, he thought the prisoner guilty,
his absence did not, presumably, affect the issue. The
poor wretch protested his innocence to the last — ^he was
hung on August 28th — ^the Diarist commenting ‘ if he
IS [innocent] I doubt not he will be amply rewarded, if
he is not — ^Lord be merciful unto his Soul ’.

We come now to the main episode of this time, the
conclusion of the Diarist’s one and only love affair told
in a few lines with characteristic brevity :

August 10. ... Jenny Clarke returned from Devon-
shire last mght. Betsy White of Shepton is to be
married in a fortnight to a Gentleman of Devonshire
by name Webster, a man reported to have 500 P**
per annum, 10,000 in the Stocks, beside expecta-
tions from his Father. He has settled 300 P** per
annum oh Betsy.

Sep. 13. ... Jenny Clarke told me that she was at
Shepton MaUett yesterday, and that Miss White
was Married to Mr. Webster this day sennight the
6 Instant.

Sep: 16. ... Mr. and Mrs. Webster (late Betsy White)
came to Sister White’s on Horseback this morning,
and they dined, spent the afternoon there, and re-
turned to Shepton in the Even®. I did not go to
Mrs. White’s today tho much 'pressed in the aft:.
Brother Heighes and myself took a walk in the evening
down to Allhampton Field, and m oui return back

167

1775

we met Mr. and Mrs. Webster in the Turnpike Road.
Mrs. Webster spoke as usual to me, but I said little
to her, being shy, as she has proved herself to me
a mere Jilt. Lawyer White at Mrs. White’s — quite
drunk this evening. . . .

The following are one or two homely, and more
cheerful entries before the Diarist returns to Oxford.

Sep: 27. ... Gave a poor old man at Rachel Pounsett’s
by name Curtis, who is now in his 95 year, and walks
strong, sees tolerable, and hears quick, and who has
thatched some Hayricks this year tho’ so old . . .

o. I. o. . . .

Sep: 29. I breakfasted, dined, supped and slept again
at Parsonage. My Sister’s little Maid was publicly
christened this morning at Ansford Church, Mrs.
Donne and Mrs. Pounsett of Cole were her God-
mothers, and myself the only Godfather. Mr. and
Mrs. Donne, Mr. Guppey, Mrs Pounsett, Sister
White, Sam Pounsett, all dined & spent the aft: at
Parsonage Frank Woodforde christened the little
Maid, and was asked to dine with us, but he declined.
Being Godfather I gave to the Midwife o. 5. o., to
the Nurse gave o. 5. o. To four Servants — i/o each
— ^gave o. 4. o Brother Heighes and son Sam^ supped
etc. at Parsonage.

Sep: 30. I breakfasted, dined, supped and slept agam
at Parsonage. I went down to Sister Clarke’s this
morning and made her a visit, she is not at all pleased
in being not invited to the Christening yesterday —
many more the same. . . .

On October 3rd he sets out foi Oxford, which he reaches

168

1775

after an uneventful journey next day. On October 26
we get the first direct reference in the Diary to the revolt
of the American colonies . . . ‘ I went to the Convocation
House and heard an Address to His Majesty on American
affairs read and unanimously approved of the second
time of its being proposed. The first time there were
about three Non Placets — ^none the second time. The
House was pretty full on the occasion. . . . ’

Lord Shelburne cynically observed about this time that
‘ Loyal addresses were indeed many, but the enlistments
were as few as the signatures to the addresses were
numerous ’. On the other side of the Atlantic, where
the rhetorical capacity of the revolting Americans was
even more unlimited, the same phenomenon appeared.
Washington complained of the ‘ amazing ’ backwardness
of his troops to enlist for another year, and in a letter of
November 28, 1775, confessed — ‘ Could I have foreseen
what I have experienced, and am likely to experience,
no consideration upon earth would have induced me to
accept this command ’. There appears to have been
more of academic vehemence than profound feeling on
both sides, at least during the early days of the conflict.^

Oct- 30. ... Very busy again in the Audit House
[doing the College Accounts] from 10 till 2 o’clock.
Betting with Cooke and Boys this morning in the
Audit House about casting up a sum won o. 10 6.
which they owe me at present. . . .

Nov: 7. . . . Very busy to-day in preparing things for
Divinity Disputations for my Bachelor of Divmity’s
Degree. Hariy Oglander and myself go up very soon.
Nov: 1 1 . ... At one o’clock myself and Harry Oglander

^ ljOxiT\tzaiA\m<.e\LtfeoJSbelburne,vo\ i,pp 4.79-81, "L&fkftHtstory
oj England, vol, iv, p. 228 (foot-note) See also pp. 1 39-40 preceding.

1775

question was, An Sacra Scriptura contineat omnia ad
salutem necessaria — ^AfErmatur — Our second was, An
Sacra Scriptura sit satis perspicua in rebus ad salutem
pertinentibus — ^Affirmatur . . The Professor Dr.

Bentham behaved very polite and exceedingly civil
to us indeed. . . . ^

Nov. 14. ... At I o’clock myself and Harry Oglander
went again up into the Divinity School and disputed
under the Professor as last Saturday, only I was
Respondent. The Questions we went upon to-day
were. An Sancti sint mvocandi — ^Negatur. An

operatio gratiae Divinae sit irrisistibilis — Negatur. . . .

Nov. 16. . . Very busy in the morning in preparing

myself to preach a Latin Sermon before the Univer-
sity which I intend doing very soon . . .

Nov. 1 8. ... Had a letter this evening from my

Norfolk Curate who acquainted me that Mrs. [Ridley]
had had a survey taken on her side concerning
Delapidations [at Weston] by a Clergyman, the
Rev** Mr. DuQuesne and a WiU*"” Tompson, Car-
penter at Hockenng and they did not bring it to
more than £ 26 . 9. o. N.B., a very wide difference
between us indeed. [The Diarist’s survey came to
just over ;^i75,^it will be remembered ] My Curate
Mr. Howes is very much for Mrs. Ridley.

On November 20 he preached his Latin Sermon before
the Vice-Chancellor m his robes, attended with three
Beadles, in St. Mary’s Church . ‘ I wore a Gown &
Cassock and had on my Master of Arts Hood without any
Tippett to my Gown — my text was out of the Greek

^ Edward Bentham, D D , 1707-76, made Regius Professor of Divinity
at Oxford in 1763. He appears to have been an industnoub but unremark-
able man (See D, N BJ)

171

1775

Testament, Rom: 6. l8 . 'EXevffepcoOevres 8e cVo r^s
apaprCa's, i 8 ov\(tidr)T€ SiKaiocrwy My sermon was
about half an hour long. After sermon I returned to
Coll, and drank a dish of tea. . . . ’

On November 24 he took his Bachelor’s Degree in
Divimty, paying at the same time a fee of £12. 18. 6.
For the next day or two he is ‘ very bad indeed in the
Influenza but after dosing himself with Brimstone,
cream of tartar, and treacle, living ‘ very low ’, and going
to bed early, he rapidly recovers.

Nov 28. ... The warden sent down a note to the
Jun' C. Room to acquaint the young gentlemen that
if any of them should make any future noise in the
College, they would suffer the greatest rigour of the
Statutes. We have of many nights past had very
great Hallowing etc. in the Courts, what is facetiously
called the upright — ^the He . . . Up. Lee, War ton,
Alcock, Bingham, Awbery and Busby the principal
gentlemen, but Lee is far the worst They are
called in the University the black Guards of New
College for their noises m the street. I have been
disturbed two or three nights lately by their great
disturbance in the Court. The Jun' Com: Room
Chimney Piece was pulled down Saturday night by
the above Rioters. £

Dec. 8. ... Jumper Cox had a Prize of 5000 in the
Lottery, his ticket was drawn yesterday — No. 55,471 ^
Dec. 9 ... Had a letter this evening from my Curate
Mr. Howes and in it a Norwich Bank Bill of the sum
of ;£i50. o. o. being part of money for Tithes received
for me at Weston.

Dec. 19. ... Agreed in the Thirteen this morning that
^ See p. 89,

172

1775

the Coll, give to the Subscription that is set on foot
for the King’s Troops at Boston — the sum of
j^ 2 I O O. • . •

December 21. ... My Fellowship this year was worth
£So o o. [including] as Dean of Divinity and other
Exhibitions ;^io. 5.0....

December 31. . . Sent a letter this afternoon to

Mrs. Ridley at Greenwich, one that will not be
relished very cordially . . [Doubtless the wretched
Dilapidations dispute ]

Jan 14, 1776 . . . The Post which should have come

in last night, did not come till 10 this morning on
account of the snow. Scarce ever was known so deep
a snow as at present Many carriages obliged to be
dug out near Oxon No Curates could go to their
Churches to-day, — Not one from our College went
today on account of y® snow. . . .

Jan. 18. ... Williams Sen"^ and Jeffries played at all
fours this evening in M.C.R. They had very high
words at last and Wilhams threw the cards in Jeffries’s
face, the whole pack, being in a very violent passion.
They were both to blame, but Williams much more
so Jeffries went to his room soon after and their
[there] stayed. . . .

On January 26 he had ‘ a very elegant dinner ’ at
Brasenose College where he went ‘in a Visitational
Capacity but did nothing at all, only received for my
trouble as usual o. o. 8. Some of us go every quarter on
the same account.’

The dinner was as follows •

Jan* 26. ... First course Cod and Oyster Sauce, Rost
Beef, Tongue and boiled Chicken, Peas, Soups and

173

1776

Roots. The second course a boiled Turkey by
mistake of the Manciple, which should have been
rested, a brace of Partridges rested, 4 Snipes and some
Larkes rested, also an orange pudding, syllabubs and
jellies, Madeira and Port Wines to Drink and a dish
of Fruit. . .

Jan 31. . . Thermometer down to No. 9 this morn.
23 degrees beyond freezing. It is thought that
Professor Hornsby’s Thermometer was down this
morning — to No. 6. No. 4 is the lowest that ever
was known.

On February 15 he sets out for Ansford, which he
reached next day ; the journey by post-chaise, including
stopping the night at Tetbury, and all expenses on the
way cost him the very large sum of ;^5 . 9. 5 . The j ourney
was uneventful, though he spent a bad night at Tetbury
owing to an officer turmng up veiy late and making a great
noise. Just outside Bath he met Mr. Holmes ‘ of our
College ’ returning on horseback who had been staying
at Bath and he ‘ told me he never spent such a six weeks
in his life — ^highly pleased ’

The next three months at Ansford, the last he was to
spend at the Old Parsonage House, passed in the usual
quiet country way, except for a scare of fire on March 5.
The Diarist on that day was congratulating himself on
feeling ‘ brave ’ again after a disorder which had ‘ pro-
ceeded from eating great quantities of water-cresses
when ‘ at one o’clock ... as a leg of mutton was rosting
by the Kitchen fire, a very dreadful fire happened in
the chimney ’. Cary and Ansford friends rushed to the
rescue. Pails of water were thrown down the chimney
as well as wet rugs and blankets, and in two hours the
fire was extinguished. ‘ My Uncle sent down some Cyder

174

1776

in Pails to the people and we gave them more I offered
a guinea to the people upon the house but they would
not take it, Mr. Burge would not suffer it.’ The fire
was all due to the chimney’s not having been swept ‘ for
above twelve months. ... It is amazing that Mr. Pounsett
should neglect it so long, very wrong indeed of him only
to save sixpence ’.

The subsequent weeks are spent — apart from the almost
daily round of mutual hospitality — ^largely in settling
things up prior to his final departure from Somerset in
May. He lets his little estate of some thirty acres in
Ansford to Farmer Corpe on March ii for seven years
for a rent of o. o. per annum, the farmer to pay
aU taxes except the Land Tax. He gives presents to
various relations, particularly to Brother Heighes, who
IS presented with ‘ a very handsome piece that I had
by me for a waistcoat, a buff-coloured with sprigs in it ’,
also he buys some broad cloth ‘ for a coat and breeches
for Brother Heighes . . to wear with the waistcoat ’.

Under March 26 and 27 there is an interesting refer-
ence in the Diary to various cures for the King’s Evil,
from which his mece Nancy (daughter of Heighes) is
suffering, which will prevent her for the time being from
coming with him to Norfolk. Alford Well water is said
to have ‘ done great things in complaints of the King’s
Evil ’. On April 14 he enters ‘ very much frightened
and hurried this morning by hearing that my brother
John had a fall from his horse in the night coming from
Evercreech and was found senseless about i in the
mormng’. He is greatly relieved to find him com-
paratively uninjured. ‘ I hope this will caution him from
riding when merry — ^he has had many falls before but
none so ba 4 as this.’ On April 15 he mortgages his
Ansford estate for the sum of ^^400, which he receives

ns

1776

from his lawyer, Mr. Martin of Bruton, at 4 per cent,
per annum. This considerable sum he expends partly
on buying ‘ an house and orchard ’ for £100, partly in
paying off various debts of his own and his Brother John,
partly in paying back the principal and interest to various
persons for whom he had acted as a sort of banker, and
partly in purchasing two horses for £27 lys. 6d. (inclusive)
on which he and his nephew Bill (son of Heighes) are
shortly to set forth for Norfolk. The rest is available for
other expenses connected with getting into his Norfolk
hving. On May 6 he sends off ‘ 7 large Boxes to Mr. Will®
Burge Junior, this afternoon for him to send them by
the London Waggon tomorrow for Norfolk*. May 8
is spent in packing and tahng leave of friends and
relatives — ^ after supper I went down to my Brother
John’s and took leave

May 9. ... This morning at 9 o’clock took my final
leave of the old Parsonage House at Ansford and went
up to Mr. White’s and there I breakfasted with him,
Sister White, Mr. Pounsett and Jenny, Brother
Heighes, his son Will® and Sam and James Clarke. . . .
After breakfasting at Mr. White’s about lo o’clock
I took my leave of my Friends at Ansford and set
forth on my mare for Norfolk, and Bill Woodforde
and my boy Will. Coleman went with me. I left
my friends very low on the occasion

I must confess also to feehng ‘very low’ on this occasion.
Having read forty-eight manuscript booklets covering
every day of the period from July 21, 1759 to May 9,
1776, 1 have become so acquainted with all the Somerset
friends and relations in their daily lives that they are
almost as familiar to me as my own family. Good

176

THE OLD PARSONAGE, ANSFORD, SOMERSET

1776

affectionate Sister Jane, slow but amiable Mr. Pounsett,
roystering Brother John, the hospitable Clarke and
\^6ute families, wily Uncle Tom, the demure but
faithless Betsy White (now Webster), friendly but im-
pecunious — and I fear rather unsteady — Brother Heighes,
Solicitor Martin, Counsellor MeUiar, Parson Gapper, and
Parson Leach, the Burges, the Pews and the Russes — not
least ‘ the fair Bathsheba ’ of whom the Diarist dreamed
one night — ^to all these it would be heartrending to say
* Farewell ’ ; happily the Dianst himself has made it
impossible, and ‘ the unimaginable touch of time ’ leaves
them, as they were, alive.

Of Brother John a word should be said, as he will appear
but rarely in future The tradition of his dare-devilry
has survived in the neighbourhood almost to the present
day. There are two stories of him which have been
handed down ; one is that he rode his favourite horse
into the Methodist Chapel and cursed the congregation,
and another that he rode the same horse upstairs and
jumped it over his wife’s bed. But he sobered down in
time. He was apparently always known as ‘ Cap. Jack ’ —
that he was an ensign in the Somerset Militia has been
told in the Diary, and he rose to be a captain later. He
died on September 23, 1799, in his fifty-fifth year. His
wife Melliora Clarke survived him till 1826. She is said
to have been a friend of Wesley’s, and possibly that very
great man influenced her husband in later life. It is,
at least, noteworthy that in his Journal under date
Thursday, September 27, 1787, Wesley enters ‘About
noon I preached at Castle-Cary. How are the times
changed ! The first of our Preachers that came hither,
the zealous mob threw into the horse-pond ; now, high
and low earnestly listen to the word that is able to save
their souls.’

177

N

1776

The Dianst and his nephew Bill, the hoy servant,
William Coleman, and the dog proceeded to Norfolk
via Oxford. From the 12th to the 20th of May they stay
in Oxford as the Diarist has to settle up accounts — ^his
Fellowship had lapsed as from April 12 — and pack up
those of his goods which he does not sell, for Weston.
Also nephew Bill, of course, is shown the chief sights of
Oxford.

May 20. We breakfasted at College and about 10 took
my final leave of my Rooms at College and we set
forth for Norfolk, myself, Bill Woodforde and my
serv: Will: Coleman. . . . We got to Tame about
12 o^clock about 13 miles from Oxon : and there we
dined at the red Lion kept by one Powel. When we
got to Tame was very uneasy on account of my leaving
at Oxford this Book and my Baldwins Journal I
sent a man immediately from Tame with a letter to
Master Sen*" to send back the same, and in about
three hours he returned and brought me back both
very safe. I was then quite happy — p** him for
going o. 2. 6 ...

A peculiar thrill of excitement and pleasure passed
through me as I read this passage, holding in my hand
the precise volume of the Diary, which had been left
behind, and retrieved thus one hundred and forty-six
years ago. The party set on and slept the night at
Tnng ‘about 17 miles from Tame’, at the Rose and
Crown. They started off at seven o’clock the next
morning and breakfasted at Dunstable ‘ about 10 miles
from Tring. . . . ’

May 21. ... From Dunstable we went to Baldock thro’

178

1776

EBtchin about 20 miles from Dunstable and there
we dined at the White Horse kept by one Kendall. . . .
A great many soldiers, Dragoons at Baldock today.
From Baldock we went on to Royston about 10 miles,
there we baited our Horses and selves a httle time at
the Crown kept by one James. . . . From Royston
we went on to Cambridge about 13 miles from
Royston and there we supped and slept at the White
Bear kept by one Garford, a very good Inn and very
reasonable. We got there about 9 o’clock, very fine
road and very pleasant indeed all the day.

May 22. We breakfasted at Cambridge and then set
forward. BiU and myself went after Breakfast and
saw Kings Chapel, the finest I ever saw, all fine carved
Stone, the Roof of the same — most capital piece of
Architecture indeed, gave a man that shewed it to
us o. I. o. The gentlemen Commoners were [wear]
black Gowns and gold trimmings made slight upon
the sleeves of the same and very small gold Tossills
to their square Caps of cloth. The members of Trinity
Coll: undergraduates all wear Purple Gowns — gentle-
men Commoners were purple Gowns trimmed with
silver instead of gold and silver tossills. The Buildings
are grand at Cambridge but few of them. . . . ’

Their route from Cambridge was through Newmarket
(13 miles from Cambridge), Barton Mills (10 miles from
Newmarket), and Thetford (10 miles from Barton Mills).
They baited their horses at the Bull at Newmarket, dined
at the Bull at Barton Mills, and supped and slept at the
George at Thetford. ‘ A great many soldiers at Thetford
going on to Norwich. Prodigious fine road from Cam-
bridge to Thetford.’

Next day, May 23rd, they went from Thetford to

179 M 2

1776

Attleborough (15 miles froffTPBHW^Twhere they^l^d
at the Cock and from Attleborough to Norwich—
another 15 miles, where they supped and slept at the
Kings Head. ‘ Our great dog ’ — ^for whom a brass collar
had been purchased at Oxford for 5/. 6 d — ‘ performed
the journey very well Next day they reached thar
journey’s end at Weston, 10 miles from Norwich, but
finding nothing to eat they rode on to Lenwade Bridge —
a mile away — and dined there. ‘ My servant Will:
supped and slept there. Myself and Bill supped and slept
at Weston at my House.’

180

PART II

WESTON LONGEVILLE, NORFOLK
May 24, 1776, to January i, 1803

As Weston Longeville will become as familiar as
Ansford or Castle Cary, little need be said here. It owed
Its second name to the priory of Longeville in Normandy,
to which its tithes were transferred at the end of the
eleventh or the begmning of the ^twelfth century — a.
common mediaeval practice — by its then Norman Lord
of the Manor. The population in 1776 probably did
not exceed 360 — ^its population in 1801 was 365, in 1901,
367, and at the last (1921) census 323. The church,
exceptionally spacious and beautiful, is of the perpen-
dicular period, and dedicated to All Saints. The living
is still in the gift of New College, Oxford, and still
relatively a good one. The rectory is not, alas, as tnown
by the Diarist, but on the same site, about half a mile
from the church. Fish continue to flourish in the river
Wensum, a lovely stream which flows through Lenwade
Bridge a mile and a half away. The descendants of
Squire Custance are still the Squires of Weston, and
doubtless many descendants of the farmers and villagers
who flourished in the Diarist’s day survive — the names on
the village war memorial are sorrowfully familiar — ^whose
families are not less ‘ old ’ because they are not recorded
in, often doubtful, books of genealogy. Indeed it is
certain that the oldest famihes in England, in the sense
of continuous connexion with the same soil, are to be
found in the cottages of remote villages, famihes whose

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1776

age in this sense would cause four-fifths of the Peerage
to hang their diminished heads.^

For the first few days the Diarist and Bill were very
busy and rather uncomfortable settling in. The Oxford
and Ansford boxes arnved from Norwich, another survey
of dilapidations is taken on the Diarist’s behalf, a rat
catcher is set on to catch and destroy all the rats for
I or. 6 d., a labourer is engaged for four days at is. 6 d.
a day for grubbing up furze. They spend two days in
Norwich — ^from May 30 to June i — buying household
goods, furniture, silver and so on, also cloth for a coat for
Bill, to be made by a tailor — ‘ an old Prussian ’ called
Murray.

June 3. I breakfasted, dined, supped and slept again
at Weston. My nephew breakfasted, dined, supped
and slept at Weston. Two servant maids came to me
this morning and offered their services to me. I
agreed with them both and they are to come to me
here Midsummer day next. One of them is to be an
upper servant and she lived very lately with Mr Howes.
A very pretty woman she is and understands cookery
and working at her needle well. I am to give her
per annum and tea twice a day — 5. 5. o. She was
well recommended to me by Mrs. Howes and the
reason she was turned away from Mrs. Howes’s was
her not getting up early enough, as Mrs. Howes told
me The other maid was recommended to me by
Mrs. Howes, she is a Tenant’s daughter of Mr.
Howes’s, she is wooled. I agreed to give her per

^ There is a very interesting history of Weston in Blomefield’s monu-
mental History of Norfolk and its contmuation by the Rev. C Parkin
(See volume vm — ^published 1808 — deahng with the Hundred of Eynford )
Kelly’s Directory, 1922, supplies modern information

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annum — 3. 10. o. She is to come at Midsummer
also. She is to milk, etc.

Very bad all day in the toothache. The tooth is
faulty. Mr. Hardy and his Boy Mason at work for
me all day. Gave a man this morning for bringing
home our dog o. i. o. Dunnell the carpenter at work
for me all day.

June 4. I breakfasted, dined, supped and slept again at
Weston. My tooth pained me all night, got up
a little after 5 this morning, & sent for one Reeves
a man who draws teeth in this parish, and about
7 he came and drew my tooth, but shockingly bad
indeed, he broke away a great piece of my gum and
broke one of the fangs of the tooth, it gave me
exquisite pain all the day after, and my Face was
swelled prodigiously in the evening and much pain.
Very bad and in much pain the whole day long.
Gave the old man that drew it however o. 2. 6. He
is too old, I think, to draw teeth, can’t see very
well.

June 5. I breakfasted, dined, supped and slept again
at Weston. Very much disturbed in the night by
our dog which was kept within doors tonight, was
obhged to get out of bed naked twice or thrice to
make him quiet, had him into my room, and there he
emptied himself all over the room. Was obhged then
to order him to be turned out which Bill did. My
face much swelled but rather easier than yesterday
tho’ now very tender and painful, kept in today
mostly. Paid and gave Will my servant this evening
o. 5. o. Paid Mr Dunnell this evening part of a bill
due to him from me, for 2 cows, 3 Piggs, 3 p'. Shoes,
Flower, Tea, Sugar, News Papers, Pipes, Candles,
Pan, Tobacco, Beer, Mustard, Salt, Washing, Halters,

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Comb and Brush, Crabs, Bread and Porterage of
£14. 9. 3. the sum of a Bank Note — of — ;^io. o. o.

June 8. ... Mrs. Howes sent us over this afternoon
some plumb Cake with 2 little pieces of the same to
put under our pillows. . . .

June 9. ... Bill went with me to Church this morning
and appeared in a new suit of clothes, which was
brought home last night from Norwich and which

1 gave him. No service in the afternoon at Weston,
not usual.

June 13. ... Mr. Wilson Sen*^ of Elsing a Clergyman
spent the afternoon with me at Weston. He brought
me in his Pocket two bundles of Asparagus — ^it was
very kind in him.

June 15. I breakfasted, dined, supped and slept again
at Weston, Bill breakfasted, dined, supped and slept
again at Weston. We were busy all the morning in
fishing with a casting net in our Ponds. We took
out of one little Horse Pond 40 Brace of Tench —
some very fine ones. Had a brace for dinner. Most
of the rest we put into the great Pond. My Squire’s
brother Mr. Custance lent me the net. ... To

2 Masons, i Carpenter and 2 Labourers i week p**

12. lof.

June 25. ... After breakfast I went on my Mare to
Norwich where I dined at the King’s Head and spent
part of the afternoon. My servant Will Coleman
went before me to Norwich I had him to bring
back a servant maid behind him. . . .

July iith. I breakfasted, dined, supped and slept again
at Weston. Bill breakfasted, dined supped, and slept
again at Weston. Reed, for Butter this morning —
o. I. o. Mr. du Quesne sent me over a present of
some strawberries. I signed a Testimonial for him

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as he is going to be installed into his new Preferment,
that of Chancellor Canon of St. David’s. . . .

July 19th. I breakfasted, dined, supped and slept again
at Weston. Bill breakfasted, dined, supped and slept
again at Weston. Bill and myself took a ride in the
afternoon to Mr. Howes at Hockering where we spent
the remaining part of the afternoon with Mr. Howes
and his Wife. Mr. Howes went to bury a corpse for
Mr. du Quesne, and when he was gone Mrs. Howes
told us that she hved very unhappy with her Husband,
as he wants her to make her Will and give everything
to his Family. I advised her to the contrary, and to
give to her own. We were wet coming back as it
rained.

August 1st. I breakfasted, supped and slept again at
Weston. Bill breakfasted, supped and slept again at
Weston After Breakfast my Nephew and self rode
down to the River upon a fishing scheme; we got two
nets and had some Men with us, and a cart to carry
Provision for us as well as to bring home the Fish for
us. We were at it all day and went up from Leonard
Bridge to Attlebridge. At one draught only we
caught 59 brace of Fish, mostly roach and dace, but
some trout rather small. We caught in the whole
about 6 score brace — two brace and a half of which
were Pike — the largest about 6 Pound which with
a brace more we preserved alive and put them into
the Moat when we came home. Most of the rest
died before they got home. Barnard Dunnell, Harry
Dunnell, my Boy and Allen the Pond Man and son,
and Bates my chief Man a-fishing. We all dined by
the water-side upon some cold Beans and Bacon,
and a cold rost Leg of Mutton which I sent down.
We left off about 8 o’clock in the evening at Attle-

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1776

bridge. At Attlebridge we met with Mr. Custance’s
Fishers and Mr. Custance was with them and his
Mistress ^ Miss Sherman, but they went away immedi-
ately as we came. We caught a fine Pike at Attle-
bridge where Mr. Custance had been fishing but just
before we came. For a pint of Rum at Attlebridge
for the Fishers pd. — o. 2. o. Called at Mr. Ames
my Cooper at Attlebridge and paid him a Bill of the
sum of — 3. 17. 6. We were all pretty well tired by
the time we got home. Mr. Bates went from us
before dinner being obhged to be of [ojff]. Liquor
had from Leonard Bridge to-day — ^Ale — 30 Pints,
Rum, I Bottle, Porter — 2 Bottles. All which I owe
for there.

Aug. 3rd. . . George Wartons little boy John came to
live with me last thursday, and I am to give him his
victuals and some cloathes when he wants the same.
He does not sleep at my House as he has not had
the small-pox. The Boy is about 10 or 1 1 years of age.

Aug. 4th. I breakfasted, dined, supped and slept agam
at Home. Bill breakfasted, dined, supped and slept
again at Weston. I read Prayers and Preached this
afternoon at Weston. Dull and heavy all day to-day,
dreamt last night and the night before very dismal
things happening at Ansford.

Aug. i6th. . . . Was taken this evening very ill in
a faintmg fit, fell out of my Chair whilst I was play-
ing with my Nephew at Draughts, he was terribly
frightened indeed, I soon came to myself again. I

1 Readers of, for instance, the Memoirs of WtUtam Hickey, will realize
how normal and open was the maintenance of a mistress in eighteenth-
century society , the significance of what might almost be described as
the mistress convention, would form a very interesting chapter in the
history of society at this time

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bruised my Face very much with the fall, as I fell full
upon my Face on the floor.*

Aug. 24th . . . Gave Michael Andrew’s Harvest Men
that were cutting wheat at the end of my garden
a largess of . . . . .0.1.0

They gave me three cheers for the same . . .

Sept. 4th. I breakfasted, dined, supped and slept again
at Home. Bill breakfasted, dmed supped and slept
again at Weston. Mr. Francis Junr. of Norwich my
Attorney came to my House this morning to shew
me a letter that he received from Mrs Ridley in
which she mentions that she cannot comply with the
last Estimate sent her concerning dilapidations, that
her Friends advise her to the same, therefore I advised
Mr. Francis to apply to my Proctor Mr. Murphy
to begm the suit in the Ecclesiastical Court and to
acquaint her of it. Mr. Francis dined and spent the
afternoon with us. Mr. Custance the Squire’s
Brother sent me a brace and half of Partridges
this evening. Very kind of him.

Sep. 1 2th. . . . Largess given today to Farmers Harvest
Men . . . . . . . o. 2. o

A custom in this County when Harvest is in to
give the Farmer’s Men who call upon you, each
set • • • • • , •OIO

Sep. 14th. . . . Very busy all day with my Barley, did
not dine till near 5 in the afternoon, my Harvest Men
dmed here to-day, gave them some Beef and some
plumb Pudding and as much liquor as they would
drink. This evening finished my Harvest and all
earned into the Barn — 8 acres. I had Mrs. Bunnell’s
Cart and Horses, and 2 men, yesterday and to-day.
The men were her son Thomas and Robin Buck. . . .

Sep. 17th. I breakfasted at Weston and afterwards set

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of to Yarmouth. Bill breakfasted at Weston and he
went with me. . . . We got to Yarmouth about
4 o’clock, and there we dined, supped and slept at
the Wrestlers in Church Square kept by one Orton.

A very good house. After we dmed we took a walk
on the Quay and viewed the Dutch vessells, about
70 sail which came in last mght, to go a-fishing soon
for Herrings. The Dutch are very droll fellows to
look at, strange, heavy, bad dressed People with
monstrous large Trousers, and many with large
wooden shoes. To turnpikes today from Weston to
Yarmouth pd . . . . . o. 1. 6

My nephew is highly pleased with the Town of
Yarmouth.

Sep. 19th. We breakfasted, dined, supped and slept
again at Yarmouth. After breakfast we each took
a Yarmouth coach and drove down upon the coast,
and called again at the Fort. Will walked down there,
at the Fort to-day pd. . . . . o. 2. o

It was very pleasant and dehghtful indeed. Nothing
can beat what we saw to-day — ^immense sea Room,
Shipps and Boats passing and repassing — the Wind
bemg rather high, the Waves like Mountains coming
into the Shore. We rode close to the Ocean, the
Waves sometimes coming into our Carriages. We -
returned about 3 o’clock. We had some fine smelts,
shoulder of Mutton rosted and Tarts, In the evening
we took a walk on the Quay, as fine a one as ever was
seen. A great deal of company walking backward and
forward. We got on board an English vessel, and
were treated with Wine, Gin, etc. The sailors
behaved very civil indeed to us, had a difficult Matter
to make them take anything, but at last I did, and all
the silver I had, being only . . .0.1.0

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She was a Collier and going soon back to Sun-
derland.

Sep. 30. I breakfasted, dined, supped and slept again
at home. Bill breakfasted, dined, supped and slept
again at Weston. Paid Molly this morning for things
last week . . . . . . o. 3. 6

Mr. Legate and his son Benjamin called on me this
morning and talked about my taking his son at old
Michaelmas as a servant, and I agreed and bargained
with him for the sum of per annum . 10. o. o

Gave him as earnest for the same being
usual .... o. I o

Oct. 4th. ... A Mr. Roop a young Man and is a Brother
of Mrs. Davy’s called on me this morning, he drank
a glass of Wine and decamped. I never saw him
before in my Life — ^he is a Prig.

Oct. 8th. I breakfasted, dined, supped and slept again
at home. Bill breakfasted, dined, supped and slept
again at Weston. I found this morning which I had
carefully put by in a Snuff Box and quite forgot by
me the sum of 8. 8. o. Bill and myself went to Mr.
Bowles this afternoon by appointment and drank
a dish of Tea with him and his Wife.

Oct. 24th. I breakfasted, dined, supped and slept again
at home. Bill breakfasted, dined, supped and slept
again at Weston. This morning Mr. Bowles and one
Mr. Cobbe of Dereham, a Rat Catcher called on me
this morning, and as he was recommended by Mr.
Bowles, I agreed with him to destroy my Rats per
annum for me for . . . .1.1.0

I gave him as usual so to do at first . o. ii. o

He wanted to have included victuals and drink and
keeping his Horse besides in the Bargain, but I would

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by no means agree with him on that account, which
he declined soon of asking the same. No demand on
that head upon any account. Peachment called upon
me this morning to talk with me about a little Piece
of Land called Bell-string Rood which he claims for
the Parish as being Church Warden. Mrs. Dunnell
has it, and has paid for it 13 years together as a Piece
of Glebe to Dr. Ridley — I also claim it.

Nov. 3rd. . . . This mormng about 1 1 o’clock Dr. TJiorne
of Mattishall came to my House and inoculated my
two servants Ben Legate and little Jack Warton.
[A very elaborate description follows of Dr. Thorne’s
method of inoculation — ^in the arm — and the Diet
and Physics to be taken during the period of inocula-
tion: see also-pp. 40-1.] . . . Pray God my People
and all others in the Small Pox may do well, several
Houses have got the Small Pox at present in Weston.
0 Lord send thy Blessing of Health on them all.

Nov. 14th. . . . My Inoculating Folks took their salts
very well this morning and drank well of Water Gruel.
. . . They had for dinner Norfolk dumplins and Vinegar
Sauce and Potatoes also, and they eat very hearty.
Gave my Brewers Man that brought some
Beer . . . . . o. o. 6

Molly made me very angry this morning, so angry
that I gave her warning to go away at Christmas. The
inoculated People had for supper Rice Milk and I am
afraid Molly put some eggs into the same, I had
a pint of the same, I am astonished at her.

Nov. 8th. . . . Dr. Thorne who inoculated my Servants
dined and spent the afternoon with us. I gave the
Dr. for dinner a Couple of boiled Fowls and some
Pork, a boiled plumb Pudding and a fine piece of rost
Beef, roots etc. I paid the Dr. for inoculating our

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People o. 10. 6. I gave him also towards inoculating
a poor Family o. lo. 6. Neighbour Downing’s
children. The Doctor’s price for moculatmg a single

person is only o. 5. 35

Ben’s arms look much inflamed, much forwarder than
the Boy’s, Jack complained of a Pain under his Arm
to-night. . . .

Nov. 9th. . . . Had a very civil and very agreeable
Letter from Mr. Franas Senr. and in it one from
Mr. Morphew to inform me that Mrs. Ridley will
pay my last estimate of dilapidations. . . .

Nov. loth. . . I read Prayers, Preached, Churched

a Woman, and christened two children by name
Christopher and John this afternoon at Weston
Church. A large congregation at Church, Mr. and
Mrs. Carr there. All People well pleased with the
Alteration at the Church. This afternoon was the
first time of my using the reading Desk and Pulpit,
since its being removed, and also of a new Common
Prayer Book in my Desk. I can be heard much better
than where it was, and easier

Nov. 1 2th. . . . Dr. Thorne called here to see his
Patients, but did not stay long. He told Ben that
he might now live as he used to do before Inoculation
and that Jack should live low as yet. One Herring,
a young Man that has taken Rivett’s Estate in Ring-
land called on me just at Dinner time, came into the
Parlour which I ^d not hke, stayed there all the
time we dined and did not go away till near 6 o’clock.
. . . He seems a sensible man but rather too free. . . .

Nov. 19th. ... At Cary’s Shop this morning for Snuff,
Garters and Herrings, pd. o. i. 6. Mr. Bowles
spent the afternoon at my House. He came quite
full in liquor and talked very foolishly and weakly. . .

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1776

Nov. 22nd. . . . Bill and myself took a walk in the

afternoon to Mr. Bowles, but we did not stay long as
our reception was not quite so handsome as our last
visit was. We drank one glass of wine apiece and that
was all. John Bowles’s Wife is under Inoculation, was
inoculated by one Drake formerly a serjeant in the
Militia. He makes a deep incision in both arms and
puts a Plaister over, he gives no calamile but they
take salts every other day. Price 5/3 each. Had
a fine calf fall this morning from my flaked cow. My
neighbour Downing, the Father of the Children that
were lately inoculated has got the small pox in the
natural way and likely to have it very bad — there-
fore I sent over Harry Dunnell this evening to Dr.
Thorne’s, to desire him to come to-morrow and see
him, which he promised.

Nov. 23rd. . . . Dr. Thorne came this morning to poor
Downing and I went to meet him there and saw him
there. He has a great Quantity and I think will
have a difficult matter to get over it. But by the
blessing of God upon him, hope that he will do well.
He is a poor labouring Man and has a Wife and seven
small children. I told the Dr. that I would see him
paid, if he would assist him etc. . . .

Nov. 26th. . . . Dr. Thorne came to see my neighbour
Downing this morning, and I was with him there.
He desired him to let him take some matter for
Inoculation, but he was so obstinate and ungrateful
to refuse him . .

Nov. 28th. . . . Poor Neighbour Downing very bad
indeed this evening the Small Pox being upon the
turn. They sent to me to desire me to come and see
him they all thinking that he was dying. I went to
him and saw him, his Pulse was very high owing to

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drinking some Beer etc. to-day. He was quite light
though not in a dying way, tho’ he laid as if he was.
I ordered them to give him some electuary in warm
water, and when I came away he seemed a little
better. My man Ben I ordered to sit up with him
to-night. We did not get to bed to-night till after
12 o’clock.

Dec. 1st. ... Had notice given at Church this morning
for People to come to my House on Tuesday next to
pay Tithe. I went and saw Downing after Church
this mormng and he is brave. I thank God for it. . . .

Dec. 3rd. . . . My Frolic for my People to pay Tithe
to me was this day. I gave them a good dinner,
surloin of Beef rosted, a Leg of Mutton boiled and
plumb Puddings in plenty. Reed, to-day only for
Tithe and Glebe of them . . . 236. 2. o

Mr. Browne called on me this morning and he and
myself agreed and he paid me for Tithe only 55. o. o
included in the above, he could not stay to dinner.
They all broke up about 10 at night. Dinner at 2.
Every Person well pleased, and were very happy
indeed. They had to drink Wine, Punch, and Ale as
much as they pleased ; they drank of wine 6 Bottles,
of Rum I gallon and half, and I know not what ale.
Old Harry Andrews, my clerk, Harry Dunnell and
Harry Andrews at the Heart all dined etc. in Kitchen.
Some dined in the Parlour, and some in the Kitchen.
17 dined etc. that paid my Tithe, that is to say, Stepn.
Andrews, Baker, Burton, Cary, Man, Pegg, Norton,
Bowles, Dade, Case, Pratt, Legate Senr. and son of
Ringland, Bidewell, Michael Andrews, Burrows and
Legate Junr. at the Horse. Mr. Peachment came just
at dinner time, but he had dined ; he spent the after-
noon and evening however. There was no supper

193 o

1776

at all provided for them. We had many droll songs
from some of them. I made use of about 1 3 lemons
and about 2 Pds of sugar. Bill and myself both well
tired when we went to bed.

Dec. 7th. . . . My Nephew had a new suit of cloaths
brought home to-day of the best broadcloth, given to
him by me. A light brown with yellow buttons
gilt.

Dec. 8th. ... I gave notice of a Fast being kept on
Friday next, concerning the present War between
America and us.

Dec. 9th. . . . Paid my Taylor Clarke this morning for
a new suit of cloaths for my Nephew, Materials and
making ...... ^5. 2. 4-i-

Dec. loth . . . Mr. Chambers the Schoolmaster who is
lately come here called on me this morning to let me
know that he would teach my Servants Ben and Will
to write and read at a quarter each — ^which

I agreed for.

On December nth at Norwich he receives through his
solicitor the sum of gs. jd. m respect of dilapidations
from Mrs. Ridley, which with goods valued at ^38 2j.
makes up his demand of £11$ 12s. 4J. So the dilapida-
tion controversy is settled at last.

Dec. 13th. . , . This day being appointed a Fast on
our Majesty’s arms against the rebel Americans,
I went to Church this morning and read the Prayers
appointed for the same. I had as full a congregation
present as I have in an afternoon on a Sunday, very
few that did not come. . . .

Dec. 17th. . . . Busy this morning and day in Bjevsnng
some Ale being the first time of brewing since I came

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to Weston. I had my Malt and Hopps of Mr. Palmer
of Morton. I brewed only i Vessell of 36 gallons
and I allowed one Coomb of Malt and one Pound
and half of Hops, which I think will make tolerable
good Ale. . . .

Dec. 23rd. ... I had a very fine Turkey for dinner
to-day, and the best I ever tasted in my life. Mr.
Baldwin clerk to Mr. Bircham the Brewer at Reepham
being in a low way, one day last week hanged himself.
The Lord have mercy on his Soul. I paid him a Bill
for his Master not long ago. To Poor People of my
Parish again Xmas gave . . . o. 1 3 o

• • «

Dec. 25th. I breakfasted, dined, supped and slept again
at home. Bill breakfasted, dined supped, and slept
agam at Weston. Mr. Brooks my Upholsterer sent
over a Man on purpose from Norwich this morning,
with a fine Hind Quarter of London Lamb, pro-
digious fine It was indeed. I gave the man some
victuals and dtink and o. i. o. The undermentioned
poor old People dined at my House to-day being
Christmas Day and went to Church with me in the
afternoon, to each of them gave o. i . o.

Old Richard Bates . .0.10

Old Richard Buck . . .0.1.0

Old Thos. Cushion . o. i. o

Old Harry Andrews . . o. i. o

Old Thos. Carr . . . .0.1.0

Old Robin Buck Mrs. Dunnell’s man . o. i. o

James Smith the clerk o. i o

By God’s Blessing I intend doing the same next
Christmas Day. Gave old Richard Bates an old black
coat and waistcoat. I had a fine sirloin of Beef
rosted and Plumb Puddings. It was very dark at

19s o 2

1776

Church this aft. I could scarce see. I read Prayers
and Preached this afternoon at Weston Church.

Dec. 30th. . . , Paid Molly Salmon my servant-Maid
her Wages this morning for half a year . 2. 12. 6

and then she went from me to Hockering, being no
longer a Servant of mine. I should have been glad
to have kept her as she is good-tempered, but she
never once asked to stay after I had given her notice,
therefore I dismissed her. Had a fine Hare for dinner
to-day.

1777. Jan. 9th. . . . Had a letter this evening from my
old Friend, Dr. Bathurst, Canon of Christchurch and
nephew of my Lord Chancellor’s,^ to desire me to
receive his Mony and look after his affairs at
Witchingham, as Mr. Francis charges him at six-
pence in the Pound for his trouble for receiving the
same.

Jan. 13th. . . . Went on my Mare, and my servant Will:
with me to Mr. Du Quesne’s where I dined spent the
afternoon and stayed till 8 at night with him, Mr. and
Mrs. Howes and Mr. Donne We had for dinner
a Leg of Mutton boiled, a batter Pudding, and
a couple of Ducks. It is a Clubb meeting and goes
by the name of Rotation. I became a Member of it
to-day and they all dine with me on Monday next.
Every Monday is the day. At Quadrille this after-
noon — ^lost o. I. 3. I gave nothing at all to
Servants.

As there was no Moon to come home by, it was
very disagreeable to come home thro’ the Wood that
I did, but I thank God I got safe and well back tho’
very dark. When there is no Moon for the future
will get back before it is dark.

^ See note on pp. 156-7, and p. 295.

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1777

Jan. i6th. . . . To one Richard Andrews a Snauggler
for a Pound of 9/0 Tea, and 3 silk India Handkerchiefs
at 5/6 . . . . I. 5. 6

Tom Dunnell begun making a Pr of handsome large
deal Gates for the Barton this afternoon. . . .

Smuggling was a commonplace of eighteenth-century
life, and was due entirely to high Protection. During
the Seven Years War, when the English Army was freeing
North America from the French, the American colonists
did a thriving business in supplying their ancestral enemies
(the French) with smuggled goods. That the trade was
highly discreditable to them, in these circumstances, goes
without saying. At the same time it is only just to point
out that the duties imposed by the English Government
were excessively damaging to American industries, and
were one of the exacerbating causes leading to the revolt
of the American colonists.

In England, before Pitt took the whole business in
hand in 1784 onwards, smuggling was carried on on a scale
which was simply colossal. The annual defalcation of
the revenue was estimated at ^£2,000, 000 out of a total
revenue of ^12,500,000. Whole fleets of ships and
armies of persons were engaged in the smugghng business.

‘ Pitt ’, says Lecky, ‘ computed that at least 13,000,000
pounds of tea were annually consumed in the kingdom,
but duty was only paid on 5,500,000. Assuming, what
was notoriously untrue, that the consumption of foreign
wines was only equal to what it had been thirty-six
years before, the revenue had in this single article been
defrauded of ^280,000 a year.’

Pitt struck at smuggling partly by carrying through
great reductions in the duties — the tea duty, for instance,
was reduced from 119 to I2J per cent., and partly by

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1777

reviving Walpole’s attempted policy of substituting excise
for customs duties.^

Jan. aoth. . . . Mr. du Quesne, Mr. Howes and Mr.
Donne dined and spent the afternoon with us being
my Clubb day. I gave them for dinner a couple of
Rabbits smothered with onions, a Neck of Mutton
boiled and a Goose rested with a Currant Pudding
and a plain one. They drank Tea in the afternoon,
played a pool of Quadrille after, drank a glass or two
of Punch, and went away about 8 o’clock. No Supper
is a Rule. And no vails [tips] to servants, however
Mr. Donne gave o. i . o to my servant Will. The other
two gave nothing. Mr. Frost called on me in the after-
noon, and I paid him a Bill for deals etc 9. 1 1 o
Gave Mrs. Dunnell’s Man Robin . o i. o

At Quadrille this evening, lost . . o. o. 3

Feb. 6 ... Had f an Anchor of Rum brought me this

evening about 10 o’clock by one Richard Andrews
(the smuggler) paid him for it . . i. 15. o

He brought me also •§• an Anchor of
Geneva, for that paid . . i. 5. o

Feb. 9. . . I buried one John Greaves of East Tudden-

ham this afternoon at Weston — ^recd for burying him
as he was a stranger the sum of o. 6. 8 and which
I gave back to his widow as she is poor and has many
• children. . .

Feb. 14th. . . To 36 children being Valentine’s day

and what is customary for them to go about in these
parts this day gave o. 3. o being one penny apiece to
each of them.

^ Lecky’s England tn the Eighteenth Century, vol iv, pp 46-8 ; vol v,
pp 294-300 See Memoirs of Wtlltam Htckey, vol 1, pp 248-50, for an
account of how smuggling was carried on at sea

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1777

March i. ... Dr. Dodd for forging a Bond on Ld.
Chesterfield for 4000 Pd was tried this week and by
the Jury brought in guilty. He is a Dr. of Divinity
and late Chaplain to his Majesty.^

March 13. . . To Mr. Cary for a Turkey ii pd. at

4-i- . . . pd o 4. i^. My nephew and self took a walk
to Hockering this afternoon to see Mrs. Howes who
is ill and keeps her room. Mrs. Davey there from
Norwich We drank tea but did not see Mr. H.
Mr. Howes was at the Cock at Hockering, he was sent
for but he sent word that he could not come at all.
It snowed going there and coming back. . . Mrs.
Howes IS very indifferent and very low-spirited.

March 18. ... My Servants Will and Suky went to
a Puppett Show this evening at Morton and kept me
up till after i o’clock.

March 23 . . I read Prayers and preached this morn-

ing at Weston. I gave notice this morning at Church
that there would be Prayers on Friday night being
Good Friday — there used to be none that day, which
I think was very wrong.

March 25. ... My great Pond full of large toads,

I never saw such a quantity in my life and so large,
was most of the mormng in killing of them, I daresay
I lolled one hundred, which made no shew of being
missed, in the evening more again than there were,

^ William Dodd (1729-77) was a popular preacher and Chaplain to
the King He also acted as tutor to Philip Stanhope, the great Lord
Chesterfield’s heir and godson. On February i, 1777, he committed the
famous forgery in Lord Chesterfield’s name of ,^4,200, ;£3,ooo of which
he returned on being found out He was condemned, and despite popular
appeals and the interposition of Dr Johnson himself, was hanged on
June 27, 1777. Dodd was a voluminous writer It was through his
Beauties of Shakespeare (1752, constantly reprinted since) that Goethe
first became familiar with Shakespeare’s works (See D N B)

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1777

I suppose there are thousands of them there, and no
froggs. . . .

March 26. ... Went a fishing with Nets down to the
river to-day, but had little or no sport, caught 2 brace
of Pike, one fine Perch, some Gudgeons and a few
flat Fish — I sent the men before I went, and I found
them at Attlebridge, and it made me quite angry to
find them there, so angry that I left them immediately
and ordered them of, and then my nephew and self
took a ride to Witchingham and saw the Parsonage
House there and Church. The Church is a very neat
one and in good repair, the House not bad, tho’
better than I thought it to be.

As we returned we found the Fishers at Leonard
Bridge trying there for fish, and there we stayed with
them till 5 o’clock and then returned home to dinner.
For some Beer for them at the Inn there

pd o. I. o

Harry Dunnell, Ben, Will, Allen and Barney and
Tom Carr were the Fishermen and they all returned
and dined at my House . . . gave them .020
I let the Fishermen have a Bottle of Rum to carry
with them. We returned quite tired and hungry and
much fatigued. . . .

March 27. . . . We took half a large basket full of toads
this morning out of the great Pond, put them into
a kettle and poured some boiling water upon them,
which killed them instantaneously. I daresay we
killed 200. Harry Dunnell and my boy Jack Warton
took them up in their hands alive and put them into
the basket, . . .

March 28. ... I read Prayers this morning at Weston
Church at 1 1 o’clock. No Sermon. I had a tolerable
good congregation. I did not dine to-day being Good

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1777

Friday till 5 in the afternoon, and then eat only a few
apple fritters and some bread and cheese.

March 29. ... Andrews the Smuggler brought me this
night about ii o’clock a bagg of Hyson Tea 6 Pd
weight. He frightened us a little by whistling under
the Parlour Window just as we weire going to bed.
I gave him some Geneva and paid him for the tea
at 10/6 per Pd 3* 3* o

April 6. ... I read Prayers and administered the H.
Sacrament this morning at Weston. No Sermon.
My Clerk Js. Smith dined here to-day being Sacra-
ment Day. About 9, o’clock this evening I saw in
the Element a prodigious Light, exactly the form of
a Rambow and near the breadth but vast deal larger,
as It extended from N.E.N. to W.S.W. very bright
indeed. I apprehend it to be the Northern Lights,
but I never saw them in that form before ; it went
of soon and quivered about as the Northern Lights.

April 9. I breakfasted, dined, supped and slept at the
King’s Head. Bill breakfasted, dined, supped and
slept again at the King’s Head. [They had gone on
a jaunt to Norwich ] Called on Mr. Francis this
morning, he asked me to dine with him, but I would
not be so troublesome.

Called on Mr. Priest and pd him for

Wine etc 5. 6. o

Paid Mr. Beloe China Man for glasses

and decanters .

. 0.

12.

0

To a Mariner’s Compass

pd

. o.

4 -

6

To a Silk Purse

pd

. 0.

I.

6

To a Spice Box

pd

. 0.

2.

6

We drank tea in the afternoon at Mr. Francis’s
with him, his wife and Father. From thence we went
to the Theatre Royal and saw Tancred and Sigis-

201

1777

munda — ^with Bon Ton for the entertainment. We
sat in the Front Box — ^paid for z tickets o. 6. o. Gave
a soldier a Dragoon of the ii Regiment whose name
was Martin and came from Somerton o. i. o.

April 10. I breakfasted and dmed at the King’s Head.
Bill breakfasted and dined at the King’s Head. Had
a letter yesterday from Mr Pouncett who informs
me that Sister Clarke is going to be married to one
Ryal of Sherborne, a man who drives his own waggon
to Bristol, IS much in debt and has lo children
already. I sent her a trimming letter to-day on the
above account. Called on Mr Aram, gardner, and
paid him . . . . 2 ii. o

My nephew and self took a walk this morning to see
the Dragoons exercise on Mousehold Heath about
3 miles from Norwich. We returned by 3 o’clock.
Gave to my servt. Will Coleman who came to Norwich
yesterday, towards a Pr of Leather Breeches o. 10. 6.
Gave my nephew towards a Hautboy o. 8. o After
dmner towards the evening we set of for Weston. .

April 17. ... Sent my servants Will: and Ben with

a cart this morn’ to Norwich after some Wine from
Mr. Priest and some dishes and plates etc. from Mr.
Beloe’s — China Merchant. Sent by them a note to
Mr. Priest and one to Mr. Beloe. They did not
return till 7 in the evemng. They might have come
home much sooner I think. The things came home
very safe however as well as wine. I have now a corn-
pleat Table service of the cream coloured ware, with
some other useful things. . . . My servants were both
rather in liquor, and as for WiU, he behaved very
surly and went to bed before I supped, a pretty
return for givmg him half a guinea last week.

April 19. . . Mr. du Quesne drank a dish of tea with

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1777

me this afternoon, he walked over and had his wheel
to measure the distance from his house to mine,
with him, and it was 2 miles and 6 furlongs. I played
a game at Backgammon with him — ^he beat me. . . .
Had a letter this evening from Sister Clarke to assure
me that the affair with Ryal is entirely over. Had
a letter also from Jefferies of Brecon to desire me to
send his brother 6 quart of Turnip seed.

April 25 . . I got up this morning at 5 o’clock and

shot a Rook in Cary’s Pitt, that was eating up my
oats that are set. Lent Spaule my Blacksmith this
morning 2. 2. o. Mr. Donne and young Mr. Shelford
of North Tuddenham dined and spent the afternoon
with us. Had for dinner a Face and Greens, a leg
of Mutton rosted and a plumb Pudding.

May 8 . . After dinner my nephew and self with Ben

and the Boy walked down to the river with the
casting net for a little diversion at Fishing. I caught
three fine trout, the largest two pound and half all
but 2 ounces The next largest near two pound,
the other about f a pound besides gudgeons and
roach and dace, all of my own catching and by my
own throwing the net. BiU caught only one little
Miney but he did not throw above four times. Wc
saw Mr. Custance Junr. down at the River a-fishing
with a fly and we spoke to one another — he said he
had had bad sport. I think I had very great sport
being the first time of my ever throwing a casting net
into a river. I was very wet and dirty, got home
about mne.

May 15. ... Mr. Custance called on me this morning
to go a fishing. We rode down to the river. Mr
Custance’s mistress a Miss Sherman and one Sandall
an oldish man a broken gentleman and who keeps

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1777

a Mistress also tho he has a Wife living, went with
us on horseback. I returned home to dinner tho’
very much pressed to dine with Mr. Custance. We
had but middling sport — a lease of trout, i pike and
some flat fish. Mr. Custance behaved exceedingly
civil to me. He sent me the finest trout and the
pike this evening by his man Phillips. Gave the
servant o. i. o.

May 25. ... I read Prayers and administered the H.
Sacrament this morning at Weston. My nephew was
at the Sacrament. Bill was quite sulky at dinner and
all the afternoon on account of having a shoulder of
veal for dinner which he did not hke and would not
eat one mouthful of it. I asked him to take a walk
in the evemng but he did not, therefore took a long
walk by myself. I talked to him in the evening very
home about his behaviour of late. . . .

June 4. ... Reed, of Mr. Legate Ben’s Father this
morning for 2 small piggs which Sukey sold him
o. 15. o. Gave Sukey out of it for selling them o. i. o.
. . . The toads in my great Pond made an extraordinary
loud noise for this last week past. This being his
Majesty’s Birth Day had my Blunderbuss fired of by
Bill above 2 hands high three times in honour of the
day, and with powder only. We had the fine Pike
that Mr. Custance sent me rested for dinner with
a Pudding in his Belly, and very good it was indeed,
we dined on it chiefly, tho’ we had a fine piece of
Beef boiled besides. The Pike was more than 2 foot
long after being rested. . . .

June 10. [He rides with his servant to Norwich on the
9th for the Bishop’s Visitation and stays, as usual,
at the King’s Head.] ... I dressed myself in a gown
and cassock after breakfast and at ii o’clock went to

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1777

the Cathedral and heard Prayers and a Sermon
preached there by Mr. Whitmell Rector of Wood-
Norton and a good discourse he gave us. The Chan-
cellor Dr. Sandly who represented the Bishop was
there, and the Dean and a great many of the Clergy
of the Deaneries of Blofield, Sparham and Taverham.
After Divine Service we all went into the Consistory
Court in the Cathedral and there the names of the
Clergy were called over and each delivered the Bishop’s
letter with the answers to his Lordship’s questions.
We all then attended the Chancellor to the Maid’s
Head Inn not far from the Cathedral, where we
dined and spent the afternoon and the Chancellor
'with us. . . . We had a very elegant dinner and 28
sat down to dinner together. I sat next to the
Preacher by the Chancellor. The Chancellor is a very
chatty man with httle or no pride in him. He is
a Wiccamist and I had therefore a good deal of talk
with him. I delivered John Bank’s compts. to him
of Wooton in Oxfordshire, who was a contemporary
of his. Mr. Baldwin, Mr. Priest, Mr. Wilson Junr.
and Mr. Millard who read Prayers at the Cathedral
I saw and had conversation with them. Also one
Mr. Hammer a Chumm of Mr. Du Quesne’s, a very
merry and sensible as well as good-natured man. Soon
after the Chancellor went I departed also. I went and
drank tea this evening after I had undressed myself,
with Mrs. Davy in St. Stephen’s Parish, wdth her,
Mrs. Roupe, her mother-in-law and a very pretty
young Lady from the boarding School. We took a walk
afterwards in Chapel Field etc. Paid this evening for
things o. 10. o. Made a very late evening of it being
out after supper and so engaged in Company that
I could not leave them till near 2 in the mor ning .

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1777

per Fish lost— o. 4, o. We were very merry viith
Mrs. Howes today. I gave them a plumb cake with
their tea.

On June 23rd he and his nephew, and the servant, Will
Coleman, started on their journey to Somerset to visit
our old fiiend ‘Sister Jane’, Mrs. Pounsett. They
went on horseback, and the journey, which was un-
eventful, took six days. The route lay through Attle-
borough, Thetford, Barton Mills, Newmarket, Cam-
bridge, Royston, Baldock, Hitchin, Dunstable, Tring,
Aylesbury, Thame, Abingdon, Farnborough, Hungerford,
Everly, Wiley, Long Lane to Ansford, which they reached
on June 28th.

July 2nd. . . . made old Mr Burge a visit this afternoon
at Cary. Poor old Mr. Burge is amazingly altered
since I saw him last year ... he is fell away to nothing
almost, and I think will not hold it very long, he has
a cough also. He was exceeding glad to see me at
Cary. A grand christening to-day at Mr. Frank
Woodfordes. I was not invited, neither Mr. and
Mrs. Pounsett, nor my Brother Heighes. We the
only ones not invited thro’ Anford amongst their
Relations. . . .

July 3 I breakfasted, dined, supped and slept again at
Mr. Pounsetts. Brother John being at the Christen-
ing last night being merry disturbed the whole
Company so much that they were obliged to break
up about 1 1 o’clock. Js. Clarke and Jack were going
to fight. He made terrible work there I heard this
morning. He is the worst Company I ever was in
in my Life when he is got merry. Nothing pleases
him then but making the whole Company uneasy, , . .

207

1777

July Sth. I breakfasted, dined, supped and slept again
at Mr. Pounsetts. Brother Heighes and his son Sam
dined etc. with us. Sam brought his violin with him
and played several tunes to us — ^he is amazingly
improved both in Painting and in Musick — ^he is a
very clever youth. Gave Sam this afternoon
o. 2. 6. . . ^

July yth. ... I dined, spent the afternoon, supped and
spent the evening at Mr. James Clarkes who treated
me most cordially. Mr. Richard Clarke and Sam,
Brother Heighes, and his two sons Sam and Bill,
Mr. and Mrs. White, and Mr. and Mrs. Pounsett
dined, supped etc. there. We had a most elegant
dinner, a whole Salmon, 3 boiled chicken and a Ham,
a Neck of Mutton boiled with Capers, a green Goose
rested and Peas, with Plumb Puddings and a Goose-
berry Tart. . . .

July 9th. ... I dined and spent the afternoon at Mr.
Donnes at Westcomb to-day with him, his Wife and
the two Miss Boards from London ; Relations to
Mrs. Donne and with very high Heads. Mr. Guppy
and his sister Mrs. Pounsett, and Mr. Pounsett and my
Sister. Mr. and Mrs. Pounsett and old Mrs. Pounsett
had Ansford Inn Chaise. We had a fine Haunch
of Venison, a fine Venison Pasty, with many other

^ Sanmel Woodforde, the Diarist’s nephew (1763-1817) was a con-
siderable artist in his day, and was elected an associate of the Royal
Academy in 1800, and an academician in 1807 He was the most dis-
tinguished of the sons of brother Heighes He contributed no less than
133 pictures to the Royal Academy, He was enabled to visit Italy and
study there through the hberality of the banker, Henry Hoare of Stour-
head, of whom the Diarist speaks more than once. Farington mentions
Samuel Woodforde in his diary — now being published His ‘ Dorinda
wounded by Silvio’ is in the Diploma Gallery at Burlington House,
(SeeD N.£)

208

1777

good things for dinner there. A Mr. Watts a Clergy-
man and was of Trinity College drank tea and coffee
there in the afternoon, I remember his name at Col-
lege and something of his Person. He has travelled
about lately and rather shoots in the bow. . . .

July 22. I breakfasted and slept again at Ansford. We
were rather disturbed about an Hour after we got to
bed, and Jenny came to my door and waked me, and
asked me if something did not fall down in my Room,
and that she had heard something walk in the Passage
to my door, and also thought that I was ill — but it
all ended in nothing. Mr. Pounsett, myself and
Sister dined, spent the afternoon, supped and spent
the evening at Richd Clarkes at Cary with him,
Mr. Thomas, Brother Heighes and Sam Clarke.
Dr. Clarke, Sister White and Sam: Woodforde supped
etc with us. In the afternoon I walked down to
Charles Clarke’s and bought me 20 yds of Huccaback
Cloth for kitchen Table Cloths in Norfolk ^ wide
at I /I per yd i. i. 6. To Richd. Clarke’s servants
coming away gave o. 2. o. Cousin Lewis and Son
went of this morning for Nottingham. ... I was
much better to-day and more easy in my Mind.
Robert Biggen for stealing Potatoes was this afternoon
whipp’d thro’ the streets of Cary by the Hangman at
the end of a Cart. He was whipped from the George
Inn to the Angel, from thence back thro’ the street
to the Royal Oak in South Cary and so back to the
George Iim. He being an old offender there was
a Collection of o. 17. 6 given to the Hangman to do
him justice. But it was not much for all that — the
Hangman was an old Man and a most villainous
looking Fellow indeed. For my Part I would not
contribute one Farthing to it.

209

p

mi

The Dianst’s stay at Ansford lasted for another month
— the days are spent in much visiting of old friends, in
fishing, and so on — and then on August 2ist they set
out for Norfolk, returning via Bath and Oxford. At
Oxford they stayed two nights at the Blue Boar, while
the Diarist visited his friends at New College. They ,
reached Weston safely on the 29th, and found ‘ things
in decent order

Sept. 16. ... Very busy with the engine [for pump-
ing out the pond] this mormng. Mr. du Quesne,
Mr. Donne and Sister, Mr. Bodham, Mr. and Mrs.
Howes and Mrs Davy came to my House about
12 upon account of seeing some fishing before dinner
as my great Pond was near empty. We were obhged
to sink the engine lower, and in doing of the same in
raising the engine one of the triangular Poles broke
and very near killed my man Will Coleman, he was
knocked down by the Pole falling on his Head, but it
only stunned him for some time. I then gave him
a dram and he was soon pretty well. It frightened
us all very much. We caught a number of small
Tench with the casting net, but could not get all
the water out to-day for the Mud. The Ladies and
Gentlemen all dined and spent the afternoon with us.

I gave them for dinner half a dozen of my own fine
Tench (taken out of my Pond in the yard) stewed,
a Rump of Beef boiled, and a Goose rosted, and
a Pudding. Mrs. Howes found great fault with many
things especially about stewing the Fish — she could
not eat a bit of them with such sauce etc. Mrs. Davy
fell downstairs jDut did not hurt herself. Miss Donne
swallowed a Barley corn with its stalk. Many acci-
dents happened but none very bad. . . . The company

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1777

went away about 9 o’clock. They all admired my
plated candlesticks and snuffers. . . .

Sept. 21 . We breakfasted, dined, supped and slept again
at Weston. I read prayers and preached this morning
at Weston. Harry Dunnell dined with our folks
today. In the afternoon my dog Pompey came home
shot terribly, so bad that I had her hanged directly
out of her Misery. My greyhound Minx who was
with her did not come and we suppose she has met
with the same fate. It is supposed that Mr. Town-
shend’s gamekeeper who goes by the name of black
Jack, shot Pompey My nephew and self took a walk
in the afternoon.

Sept. 27* • • • I took a walk about 5 o’clock this evening
by myself to Mr. Townshend’s at Honingham accord-
ing to a promise from me to Mr du Quesne, and was
very politely received, and drank Tea there with him,
his Lady and Mr. du Quesne. The Hon: Charles
Townshend ^ handsomely apologised for my dogs
being shot by his gamekeeper, and told me moreover
that whenever I had an Inclination for a Hare I was

^ This Mr Charles Townshend (1728-1810) is not the celebrated
Charles Townshend Chancellor of the Exchequer, who

perhaps more than any one man was responsible for making war with the
American colonies inevitable — by his imposition of duties, tea and other,
in 1767 Our Mr Townshend was cousin of the Chancellor of the
Exchequer, and was mck-named * Spanish Charles ’ (to distinguish him
from his cousin) — on the ground that he was Secretary to the British
Embassy at Madrid from 1751-6 From 1761-84 he represented Great
Yarmouth in Parliament, and during this period held various minor
offices in various administrations Lord of the Admiralty (1765), Com-
missioner of the Treasury (i77o)» Vice-Treasurer of Ireland (1777), Vice-
Treasurer of the Navy (1783)’ He was made a Peer in 1797, tabng the
title of Baron Bayning of Foxley. His wife (marned August 1777) was
Annabella, daughter of the Rev Richard Smith, and an heiress. (See
D.N B)

1777

very welcome to take a Course with Mr. du Quesne
upon his Lands* Mr. Townshend’s Lady is a most
agreeable Lady indeed, very handsome and ex-
quisitely genteel. She has been married but very
lately and is about 22. I returned to Weston before
8 o’clock. . . .

Sept. 30. ... Harry Dunnell found an old silver spoon
this morn in levelling parts in' the Pond to make it
more even. It weighed one ounce and marked with
M.E. and I apprehend it belonged formerly of the
Family of the Englands, one of which was Rector in
1575

Oct. I. We breakfasted, dined, supped and slept again
at home. Harry Dunnell behaved very impertinent
this morning to me because I would not privately
name his child for him, he having one Child before
named privately by me and never had it brought to
Church afterwards. He had the Impudence to tell
me that he would send it to some Meeting House to
be named etc. — ^very saucy indeed — ^To 2 Peck more
of Pears of Js. Taylor, paid o. i. o. Gave to his
little maid for bringing them o .0. 6. My servant
Will has a bad Leg owing to its being scalded two
days ago. My Folks say he has the Ague in it.
I put to it some Family Plaister and a Poultice
over it.

[On October i6th he and his nephew go on a jaunt to
Norwich — next day they visit St. Faith’s Fair].

Oct. 17. ... We then set forth and Mr. du Quesne
with us for St. Faith’s Fair which begins to-day, and
going there the road was crowded with People.
St. Faith is about 4 miles North of Norwich. It is

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1777

a very large Fair for all things and lasts for a fort-
night — a great concourse of People there. Sir Har-
bord-Harbord and Sir Wm. Jernegan we saw theie,
the latter is a very handsome young Man. We rode
about the Fair till 2 o’clock and then went of. We
had some oysters for which I paid o. o- 6. Sir Wm.
Jernegan overtook us and rode "with us some way —
he is a mighty agreeable man. Mr. du Quesne went
home with Sir WiUm by Proimse. Sir WiUm’s coach
and four there with the children. Mr. du Quesne
being'deficient in cash I lent him i i. o. . . .

Oct. 26. ... Gave poor John Grant this morning

o. o. 6 Upon yesterday’s Norwich Paper the Revd
Benjamin Russen Master of the Charity School at
Bethnal Green and who has a Wife and six children,
was tiied at the Old Bailey for a Rape on the Body
of one Ann Mayne only ten years of age, of which
he was convicted and received sentence of Death.
Three more indictments found against him on other
children. I read Prayers and Preached this afternoon
at Weston.

Nov. 5th. We breakfasted, supped and slept again at
home. Took a ride down to Leonade Bridge this
mormng upon Bathurst’s account to receive his
Tithes for him. Bill went with me as did my servant
Will: Coleman We dined and spent the afternoon
there with Mr. Wilson, Bathurst’s curate and many
Farmers that paid money. I received in the whole
for Bathurst 10. if. Paid out of it to Mr.

Wilson I yr and f stipend 62. 10. o. For dinner etc.
at the audit to-day pd ,^3. 17. i. To Wm. Springal
for Work done in the Chancel £ 0 . 19. 6. We came
away about 6 o’clock. The Farmers were well
pleased with their Frohc. We had for dinner a Rump

213

1777

of Beef boiled, a leg of Mutton rosted and a fat
Goose and Puddings.

Dec. 2. We breakfasted, dined, supped and slept again
at home. The Hounds were round by my house
this morning. My Nephew mad to go after them.
This day being my Frolic for receiving money for
Tithe and Glebe the following Parishioners dined
with us. Mr. Dade, Stephen Andrews, Mr. Palmer,
John Bowles, Mr Mann, John Pegg, Royal Ringgar,
Wm. Bidewell, Mr. Burrows, Mr. Legate Sent. John
Baker, Wm. Case, Js. Pratt, Thos Cary, John Horner,
and Mr. Legate Junr. Mr. Peachman with his
Friend a young man Mr. Herring, and Mr. Galland
came to us after Dinner. I gave my Parishioners for
dinner a good Rump of Beef boiled, a Leg of Mutton
rosted, a Ham boiled, vast quantities of plumb and
plain Puddings and Roots. I gave them to drink
Wine and Punch in plenty. They all stayed with me
till about lo in the evening, and then they all went
to their respective homes. They were all well pleased
and merry and tolerably sober. Cobb my Rat-Catcher
was here to-day and he dined with the Folks in the
Kitchen. I paid him i. o. I gave the Folks in
the Kitchen some Punch after dinner. Mrs. Hardy
and Boy at work for me today. Mrs. Durmell’s man
Robin Buck, Mr. Hardy and Boy, Thos Thurston
Senr. who lent me a Punch Bowl, Harry Dunnell
and my Clerk Js Smith dined etc in Kitchen. Harry
Dunnell had the ague in the evening. My People
today drank 6 Bottles of Rum, of Wine 5 Bottles,
and of Ale great Quantities. I reed today for Tithe
^^204. 17. o. I paid out of it to the undermentioned
as follows : —

To Mr. Palmer for 30 Hudrd of Hay at 2/6 315. o

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1777

To Stephen Andrews for Carriage of Coal o. 5. 4
To John Pegg for ditto . . . o. 5. 4

To Mr. Mann for a Cow and Calf . . 5. o. o

To „ for I Bshll and i- of apples o. 4. o

To „ for 2 Coomb and 2 Bshlls

of seed wheat 2. 15. o
Pd in all to the above . . . , 12. 15. 8

We did not get to bed to-night till near i o’clock.

I gave to my Servant Maid Sukey . . o. 2. 6

I gave also to my Servant Will: Coleman o. 2. 6
They having had a good deal of trouble to day and
did everything entirely to my satisfaction.

Dec. 25. We breakfasted, dined, supped and slept again
at home. I went to Weston Church this morning at
i past 10 and read Prayers and administered the H.
Sacrament there, being Christmas Day. About 24
Communicants. My Nephew made one of them.
Neither Peachment, Dade, Burton, Andrews nor
Bowls, nor Mann there. Being Christmas Day the
following poor People dined at my House, old Rich?
Bates, old Rich; Buck, Thos Carr, old Thos: Dicker,
old Tom Cushion, Robin Buck and my Clerk Js.
Smith. I gave to each after dinner i/o being o 7. o.
Harry Dunnell dined also at my House today. I had
for dinner a fine surloin of Beef rosted and Plumb
puddings for them.

Dec. 31. ... We sat up tonight till after i o’clock on
account of being the last Day in the old year. After
the Clock struck 12 we drank a Happy New Year to
ourselves and Friends in a glass of Gin Punch.

1778- Jan. 3rd. . . . Bill went out a-shooting again to-
day and he brought home— just nothing at all— tho’
he had several shots at Pheasants and missed every-

21S

one . .

1778

Jan. 5* • • • Bill went out a shooting again this morning
and he killed only one small Thrush. . . . My servant
Man Ben spent the day at his Fathers by my leave.
Sukey went out in the afternoon and returned in the
evening with her sister who laid at my House N.B.
I did not know of her going out, nor of her sister
sleeping here till after lo at night. I think it is taking
too great Liberties with me to bnng home a stranger
to sleep here. I do not hke it at all — as every servant
may do the same.

Jan. 6. We breakfasted, dined, supped and slept again
at home. Sukey’s sister breakfasted here and then
went home. I did not speak one word to her, as she
came unasked. Bill went out a shooting again this
morning and he brought home only 4 Blackbirds.
Gave Bill this evening for powder and shot 2/6.

Jan. 19. ... This being the day for the Queen’s Birth
Day to be kept Bill fired my Blunderbuss 3 Times,
each charge three Caps of Powder with a good deal
of Paper and Tow on it. I fired him of in the even-
ing with 3 Caps of Powder also. . . .

Jan. 22. ... I took a nde about 2 o’clock and my
servant Will with me to Justice Buxtons at Easton
Reeds and there I (fined and spent the afternoon
with the Justice and Mr. du Quesne. We had for
(fiimer a boiled Leg of Mutton and a Hare roasted.
Gave Mr. Buxton’s servant Boy coming away o. i. o.
About 6 o’clock we went from Mr. Buxton’s, Mr. du
Quesne went home in his carriage and I went on to
Norwich where I supped and slept at the King’s
Head as did my Nephew. Mr. Buxton has a very
good House and a very fine situation with a pleasmg
Prospect from the same. After we drank Coffee at
our Inn this evening we went to the Play House and

216

1778

as we did not get in till after the 3rd Act, we paid
only I /6 each for seats in the Front Box. The Play was
the Maid of the Oaks with a Fete Champetre which
was very pretty and the Entertainment was the
Deuce is in him. I went away from the Play House
before the Entertainment began. My Nephew stayed
all the time. . . .

Jan. ^3. ... Mr. Donne, myself and Nephew took
a walk after breakfast to the New Birmingham shop
in London Lane and there I bought a pruning knife,
and 2 Razors with cases to them for 2/6. Knife 6 d.
Razors 2/0 . .... o. 2. 6

• • •

Jan. 27. ... Mr. du Quesne called on me [at Weston]
this morning and stayed with me some time, he told
me that a Meeting of the Nobility, Gentry and
Clergy of the county of Norfolk would be held
tomorrow Morn’ at the Maid’s Head at Norwich
for opening a Subscription to advance a Regiment
in these critical Times for the King. He asked me it
I should be there, which I promised. ...

[Accordingly he and Bill set forth for Norwich],

Jan. 28. We breakfasted, supped and slept at the King’s
Head. To my Barber this morning gave o. i. o.
After dressing myself I walked by myself down to the
Maid’s Head to the Meeting of the Nobility, Clergy,
etc. Lord Townshend, Mr. Townshend, Sir John
Woodhouse, Sir Wm. Jernegan, Mr. de Grey the Lord
Chief Justice’s Son, a Mr Masham, Colonel Dickens
etc. present. Sir John Woodhouse was Chairman and
opened the business of the Meeting and he was
answered by one Mr. Windham who spoke exceed-
ing well with great Fluency and Oratory, but on the
wrong side. Lord Townshend spoke after him, but

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1778

is no Orator at all. Mr. de Grey then spoke very
well and after him Mr. Townshend.^ The Question
was then proposed by the Chairman that all those
gentlemen that were against the subscription would
retire, and many there were that retired. The sub-
scription then was opened and Lord Townshend
subscribed > Sir John Woodhouse also I believe
did the same and some others. Mr. du Quesne was
there and he subscribed 20 guineas : towards the
end of the second sheet — I subscribed 5 gumeas,
there were many others that followed my example.
N B. I did not pay my subscription as many did not.
The money is to be advanced as it is wanted. I dined
and spent the afternoon at the Maid’s Head with the
rest of the Nobility, & Clergy & Gentry. We had
about 40 that sat down to dinner. Sir John Wood-
house, Lord Townshend, Mr. Masham, Mr. Town-
shend, Sir Wm. Jemegan, Colonel Dickens, Mr. de
Grey, Mr. du Quesne etc. etc dined there. I sat
between Colonel Dickens and Mr. du Quesne, the
Colonel was at Christchurch in Oxford a Student
there, therefore he and myself had a long Conference.
The Colonel hves at Dereham and asked me to his
House. The subscription amounted to near ^5,000.
The subscription is to be kept open at Kernsons.
There was also a Meeting of the opposite party at
the White Swan to-day, to protest against it. The
above Mr. Windham was one of them. Most People
admired the manner of Windham’s speaking, so much
Elegance, Fluency and Action in it. For my ordinary
paid $s[od. Extraordinary isfod — o. 4. o. My
Nephew dined and spent the day at the King’s Head.
Mr. du Quesne and myself went from the meeting
* See p 211

218

1778

about 6 o’clock and drank Tea with Mr Priest and
his Wife. After tea Mr. du Quesne went home with
Mr. Townshend. I then called on my Nephew, and
we went to the Play. As we went in after the 3rd
Act I only paid o. 3. 0. The Play was the provoked
Husband & Bon Ton the Farce. We sat in the centre
Box which was quite full. Sir Wm. Jernegan was in
the same box and spoke to me as he came out ; a very
good House tonight. We slept in our own Beds at
the King’s Head tonight.

The Mr. Windham ‘ who spoke exceeding well ’ is the
celebrated William Windham (1750-1810), friend of
Dr. Johnson, scholar, diarist, and statesman. He was
educated at Eton and Oxford. His first appearance in
public hfe was the occasion here referred to by the
Diarist. His liberal opinions, however, changed under
the influence of the French Revolution. From 1784-
1802 he represented Norwich in Parliament, and in 1794
he joined Pitt’s administration as Secretary for War, a
position he held till 1801. He was again War Secretary
in the Ministry of All the Talents, 1806-7. was
a very remarkable man, a good Greek and Latin scholar,
fluent in French and Italian, and a student of mathe-
matics. His Diary (1784-1810) is of very considerable
interest — edited in 1866 by Mrs. Henry Baring. It is
in his Diary (pages 30-4) that occurs the memorable
description of Dr. Johnson’s last hours, and the words
addressed to Windham, ‘ “ God bless you, my dear
Windham, through Jesus Christ,” and concluding with
a wish that we might meet in some humble portion of
that happiness which God might finally vouchsafe to
repentant sinners.’ (See the Diary and the notice of
Windham in the D. N, B.)

219

1778

Feb. 8 ... We had for dinner to-day the finest and

fattest Turkey Cock rested that I ever saw. It was
2 Inches thick in fat upon the Breast after it was
rosted. We had nothing else besides as it weighed
14 Pd.

Feb. 12. ... Mr. du Quesne called on me this morning
about II o’clock, and about 12 I took a ride with
him to Ling and there we dined and spent the after-
noon at Mr. Baldwin’s with him and his Wife and
Youngest Daughter and Mr. Priest of Reepham.
Mrs. Baldwin seems to be of a gloomy complexion —
with a Beard. . Before dinner we went into Mr.
Baldwin’s boat and went up the River a httle way to
take up some Hooks that were laid for Jacks, but
never a Fish. Having done that Mr. du Quesne,
Mr. Priest and self went and saw the Paper Mills
close to Mr. Baldwin’s. Mr. du Quesne and myself
bought a Ream of writing Paper, 20 quires belonging
to the same. I had one half and he the other. 10
Quires apiece. I paid for mine o. 5. 0. The Mastei
Mr. pi]Amerton went with us and shewed us the
whole Machinery which is indeed very curious. We
had for dinner at Mh. Baldwin’s, some fricasseed
Rabit, some Mutton Stakes, a Piece of rost Beef,
a fine rich plumb Pudding, Tarts and Syllabubbs. At
Quadrille this evening at Mr. Baldwin’s lost o. o. 9.
Gave Mr. Baldwin’s servant Man o. i. o. I returned
home about 8 o’clock. Mr. du Quesne, and Mr.
Priest slept there.

Feb. 23. We breakfasted, dined, supped and slept again
at home. Bill went out a coursing this morning on
my little Mare, and Mr. Hardy went out with him
and they brought home nothing at all, tho’ out for
5 Hours and 3 Greyhounds, To Mr. Cary on Anne

220

1778

Taylor my Maid’s Account for a gown, 2 shifts and
other small matters paid him i. o. gi. To Mr. Cary
also for things from Norwich etc pd. o. 4 6. To my
smuggler Andrews for a Tub of Gin had of him
January 16 pd him this Morn i. 5. o.

Feb. 27. We breakfasted, dined supped and slept again
at home. My Nephew and self walked to Church
this morning at ii o’clock and there I read Prayers
only, being a day appointed for a general Fast, on
account of the War with the Americans. I had a
large congregation. My Servant Ben went after
dinner to his Father’s unknown to me, and did not
return home till near 11 at night and when he came
home he went to bed without my seeing him, and
I believe not very sober. It is very bad of him.

Mar. I. ... Read Prayers and Preached this morning
at Weston Neighbour Gooch’s Father was taken
very ill today and thought to be dying. I sent him
Tent Wine and in the afternoon went and saw him
and read Prayers by him. He desired to have the
Sacrament admmistered to him which I told him
I would do it to Morrow morning. Poor Gooch has
been an invalid for many years. His Pulse I thought
was pretty regular, he had been convulsed in one of
his hands, but talked pretty cheerful and well. My
Clerk’s Wife Jane Smith got immensely drunk I hear
to-day.

Mar: 2. ... Poor Neighbour Gooch died this morning
about 7 o’clock. I was quite surprised to hear of it
indeed, as he did not appear to me yesterday near
his latter end. I hope that as his Intention was to
receive the Sacrament this morning, that his Will will
be, to the Supreme Being, taken as if the Deed had
been done. . . .

221

1778

Mar: 7. ... My man Ben went to Norwich with my
brinded Cow and Calf to sell on the HiU, which were
sold by Mr. Burton for the sum of 5. 7. 6. Mr.
Burton had bought me a Cow and Calf and which
were had home March 5. They cost 6. o. o.

Mar* 21. . . The Papers mention a War with France

to be inevitable and will e’er long be publicHy pro-
claimed. . .

April 7. ... My nephew and self took a walk about 1 1
this morning to Mr. Howes and there we dined and
spent the afternoon with him and his Wife, Mr.
Bodham, Mr. and Miss Donne. We spent the after-
noon in fishing Mr. Howes’s pond. I lent him my
large drag net, and my cart earned it over for him,
and Harry DunneU, Will and Ben went with the
same. We caught vast quantities of Fish called
Cruzers, they are a very beautiful Fish of a yellow
hue, but none very large, almost all the same size —
some few Carp and Tench. I gave Mr. Howes
20 brace of stock Tench and he gave me in return
50 brace of Cruzers. My folks all dined at Mr. Howes
and then came away. We had for dinner some stewed
carp, some Cruzers fried which were very good indeed
— a Fillet of Veal rosted and a Ham, and some Mince
Pies and Tarts. . . .

April 10. ... Had a prodigious large Leg of Pork of
Billy Bidewell this afternoon and which weighed
28 Pd. and f and for which I owe him.

April 15. ... We breakfasted, dined, supped and slept
again at home. Brewed a vesseU of strong Beer today.
My two large Piggs, by drinking some Beer grounds
taking out of one of my Barrels today, got so amazingly
drunk by it, that they were not able to stand and
^ See p 230, and foot-note, pp 240-1.

222

1778

appeared like dead things almost, and so remained all
mght from dinner time today. I never saw Piggs so
drunk in my life, I slit their ears for them without
feeling.

April i6. We breakfasted, dined supped and slept again
at home. My 2 Piggs are still unable to walk yet,
but they are better than they were yesterday. They
tumble about the yard and can by no means stand at
all steady yet. In the afternoon my 2 Piggs were
tolerably sober.

April 18. ... Between 5 and 6 in the evening I took
a ride to Honingham and buried one Willen late
a schoolmaster there and who died very sudden being
taken as he came from Durham. His son and Daughter
attended him to the grave and were much concerned
for their Father. Pray God comfort them. None
but those that have lost their Parents can feel that
sorrow which such an event generally produces. .

April 24. ... Who should come to my House about
2 o’clock this day but my cousin Js. Lewis from
Nottinghamshire and on foot and only a dog (by
name Careless) with him. He was most miserably
clothed indeed in every respect. He dined and
suppejd and slept at my House. He slept with my
Nephew in the yellow Chamber. He looked much
better than when we saw him in Somersett last, in
Health. ...

April 25. . . Cousin Lewis breakfasted, dined, supped

and slept again at Weston. I gave Lewis a Tobacco
Box this morning, a Pr of Shoes, a Pr of Stockings,
a Pr of Breeches and Shirt and Stock, and an old
Coat and Waistcoat. . . .

May 16. ... About 7 o’clock this evening who should
arrive at my House in a Post-Chaise and Pair, but

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1778

Mr. Pounsett and sister Pounsett. [He had been
expecting them but did not know exactly when they
would arrive.] They had come that day lOO miles.
They set out from Ansford on Wednesday morn’ last,
and they came by way of London and in a Post
Chaise all the way from London. They were much
tired especially my Sister, but she was pretty toler-
able. They supped and slept at my House. I was
exceeding glad to see them, but did not expect them
so soon. They slept in my yellow Chamber, and
Cousin Lewis and Bill slept up in the garrett over my
Chamber.

May 1 8. We all breakfasted, dined, supped and slept
again at Weston. This morning I had my great Pond
drawn to show Mr. Pounsett and Jenny some diver-
sion. And we had the largest Pike we caught for
diimer and it weighed 7 Pounds. Mr. Pounsett and
Jenny said they never eat so fine a Fish in all their
lives — ^it was prodigious nice indeed. In the evening
I took a walk and showed Mr. Pounsett and Jenny
my Church etc., they being not at Church on Sunday
as it rained much that day in the afternoon.

May 21. We all breakfasted, dined and slept again at
Weston. I walked up to the White Hart with
Mr. Lewis and Bill to see a famous Woman in Men’s
Cloaths, by name Hannah Snell,^ who was 21 years
as a common soldier in the Army, and not discovered

^ Hannah Snell (1723--92) had enlisted in 1745, after being deserted
by her husband, a Dutch seaman It was not till 1750 that she revealed
her military adventures, a book of them being published under the title
The Female Soldier , the surprising Adventures of Hannah Snell^ which
the author of the notice of her in the 2 ) N B considers much embroidered
She married a second and third time. An account of her extraordinary
career will also be found in Fortescue’s monumental History of the British
Army

224

1778

by any as a woman. Cousin Lewis has mounted
guard with her abroad. She went in the Army by
the name of John Gray. She has a Pension from the
Crown now of i8. 5 * o per annum and the hberty of
wearing Men’s Cloaths and also a Cockade in her Hat,
which she still wears. She has laid in a room with
70 Soldiers and not discovered by any of them. The
forefinger of her right hand was cut of by a Sword
at the taking of Pondicherry. She is now about 60
yrs of age and talks very sensible and well, and travels
the country with a Basket at her back, selling Buttons,
Garters, laces etc. I took 4 Pr of Buttons and gave
her o. 2. 6. At 10 o’clock we all went down to the
River with our Nets a-fishing. ... At Lenswade
Bridge we caught a Prodigious fine Pike which weighed
8 Pound and half and it had m his Belly another Pike,
of above a Pound. We caught also there the finest
Trout I ever saw which weighed 3 Pound and two
ounces. Good Pike and Trout we also caught
besides.

May 24. ... About 10 o’clock this evemng my servant
Will* came home rather intoxicated and was exceed-
ingly impudent and saucy towards me. Said he would
leave me at Midsummer or to Morrow morning etc.
Will’s behaviour made me very uneasy, I gave him
notice that now he should go away at Midsummer. . . .

May 25. Mr. and Mrs. Pounsett and Bill breakfasted,
dined, supped etc here. Cousin Lewis breakfasted
with us and then took his leave of us, as he must
now go to Beeston. Mr. Pounsett went with him so
far as Lenswade Bridge. Bill went with Cousin Lewis
as far as Elmham on foot. I gave Cousin Lewis going
away o. 10 6. Cousin Lewis could not help crying
on going away.

225

Q

1778

On June 2 the Dianst, Bill, and Mr. and Mrs. Pounsett
and Will the servant make an expedition to Yarmouth,
staying at Norwich on the way.

June 4. We all breakfasted and dined at the Wrestlers.
After breakfast we took a walk about Yarmouth,
called at Boulters shop in the Market Place and there
I bought a fine doll for Jenny’s little Maid pd for
It o. 5. o. For a dram Bottle covered with Leather
pd o. 2. o. For a silk Purse pd. o. 3. o. For a turn
screw and picker for a gun pd o. i. o. Jenny bought
a good many little things for her girl. Boulter is
a very civil Man and a Quaker. He is also an Anti-
quarian and has a good many Curiosities as well as
Medals. He shewed me a complete set of Copper
Coins of the 12 Caesars. He offered to sell them to
me for 10 guineas, but I could not spare the money.
We went also and saw the Church and Church Yard.
This being the King’s Birthday, Yarmouth was quite
alive, the Cambridgeshire Militia was there and were
exercised. Bells ringing The Flags from the Ships
m the sea and on the Quay all flying. At 1 1 o’clock
I drove my sister down to the Front in a Yarmouth
Coach and there stayed till after the Cannon were all
fired. Mr. Pounsett and BiU walked down to the
Fort. At one o’clock the Cannons on the Fort were
aU fired. I fired the first Cannon on it of six Pounders
and the second — and I likewise fired two of the largest
Cannons 24 Pounders. They made a prodigious
report. I stayed upon the Fort all the time they were
fired. Bill let of 4 Cannon, and Will let of one of
the largest. Several Women were there. Mr. Poun-
sett and Jenny walked about a Mile from the Fort
during the firing of the Cannon. We eat and drank

226

1778

at the Fort and I paid and gave o. 7. 6. We returned
at 3 to the Wrestlers and there dined. [They went
back to Weston by coach and chaise which they
reached at lo.o p.m.] ... we were all pretty much
fatigued before we got to bed, which was not till
I in the morning. We had a couple of Fowls rosted
for supper after we got home and we eat very hearty
of them indeed. . .

June 5. ... Mr. Custance Senr of Ringland called on
me this morn’ caught me in a very great disabelle,
and long beard. He stayed with me about half an
Hour. Talked exceedingly civil and obhging and
behaved very polite. . .

This is Mr. John Custance, ‘ my Squire ’, of whom
and of whose wife we shall hear frequently hereafter.
He was born in 1749, the son of Hambleton Custance,
and grandson of John Custance who had purchased the
Weston property in 1726. Mr. Custance’s wife was the
second daughter of Sir Wilham Beauchamp-Proctor —
created a baronet in 1745 — was, therefore, sister-
m-law of Sir Edmund Bacon, busman of the owner of
Earlham (see p. 233), a name which now conjures up
charming pictures of later Gurneys through the pious
art of Mr. Percy Lubbock. 'Die Custances, as will appear
from the Diary, had numerous children, seven of whom
survived. Squire Custance’s pleasant character and the
charm of his wife are revealed as the Diary proceeds.
The Squire, it is amusing to know, maintained some
touch with the great world of London as being a Gentle-
man of the Privy Chamber.^

June 9. . . .[The Dianst has to go to Norwich on
^ Burke’s Landed Gentry, 1921, under Custance.

227 Q 2

1778

business.] ... In th.e evening about 9 o’clock there
was a great Riot upon the Castle Hill between the
officers of the Western Battalion of the Norfolk
Militia, and the common soldiers and Mob. Owing
to the officers refusing to pay their men a guinea
apiece, as they go tomorrow towards the Place of
their encampment — several of them refusing to go
without it and would not resume their Arms after
Roll calhng for which they were put into the Guard
Room and the mob insisting upon having them out,
which occasioned a great not. The Mob threw stones
and some of the soldiers running their Bayonets at
the Mob and wounded them. Some of each side
were hurt but not mortally wounded or any killed, it
lasted tiU midnight and the officers behaved very
well in it. I was at the Place for some time till near
II o’clock To odd things this evening pd o. 3. 6
I did not go to bed till after 12 and then only pulled of
my Coat and Waistcoat and Shoes, as there was such
a Bustle and Noise all night and Riot expected again.

June 10. I got up this morning at 4 o’clock and went
and saw the Mihtia march out of Town, a great Mob
was present and a great Riot expected, but they went
away at 5 and tolerably quiet. . .

June 14. I breakfasted, dined, supped and slept again
at home. Mr. Pounsett, Jenny and Bill breakfasted
etc etc here again. I read Prayers and Preached this
morn’ at Weston. Mr. Custance Senr. and his Lady
were at Church and came m a coach and four.

June 30. I breakfasted, supped and slept again at home.
Jenny breakfasted, supped and slept here again.
Mr. Pounsett and Bill breakfasted, dined etc etc here
again. At i o’clock myself and Sister took a ride to
Mr. du Quesne it being his rotation and there we

228

1778

dined and spent a very agreeable day with him, and
Mr. Holkham from Pembroke, a friend of Mr. du
Quesne’s, and is a very merry, cheerful, and sensible
Man. St John Priest, Mr. and Mrs. Howes, Mr. and
Mrs. Paine, Howes’s daughter, Mr. and Miss Donne
and Mr. Bodham. Mr. Holkham is also a very musical
Man, plays well on the violin and therefore we had
a Concert also. We had for dinner some Maccarel,
a piece of Beef boiled, 3 Fowls rosted, and Bacon,
with Tarts etc. We had after dinner vast quantities
of Strawberries. At Quadrille this afternoon lost
o. I. o. Mrs Howes appeared in her new silk Sack
today. It was very handsome, and of Lilac colour.
My sister and self did not return to Weston till after
9. To a poor old Man 80 years old, gave o. o. 6.

July 6, . .In the afternoon about 5 o’clock Mr.

Pounsett and Sister took leave of Weston and set of
in Lenswade Chaise for Norwich, in which I went
with them to Norwich and had my Mare led there
by Will. Bill also rode the little Mare with us to
Norwich. We saw Mr. du Quesne as soon as we got
there. He had bespoke 2 Places in the Coach for
Jenny and Mr P. Jenny, Mr. Pounsett and Bill
drank Coifee at the King’s Head this evening, and
afterwards went to Mr. Baker’s shop. Haberdasher m
the Market Place and bought some trifling things —
for what I bought pd o. 5. 0 Mr. du Quesne, mj^self,
Mr. Pounsett, Jenny and Bill went to the Angel Inn
in the Market Place from whence the Coach goes out,
and there we all supped and stayed till 12 o’clock
(the time the Coach sets forth for London) and then
Mr. du Quesne, Jenny and Mr. Pounsett got into
the Coach after taking leave, and went of for London.
Pray God they might all have a good and safe journey.

229

1778

Bill and myself being rather low after, took a walk
for about an Hour over the city and then went to
the King’s Head and went to bed there. At the
Angel for Bill and myself I pd o. 5. o. My poor dear
Sister shook like an aspin leave going away, she never
went in a stage Coach before in her Life.

July 29. ... Reported today that the English and

French Fleets had engaged. N.B. the English is
reported to have beat the French Fleet to the
Purpose.^

Aug. 17. ... Begun shearing my Wheat this morning
and gave the shearers according to the Norfolk
custom as under, a good breakfast, at ii o’clock
plumb cakes with caraway seeds in them, and some
Liquor, a good dinner with plumb Puddings and at
4 Beer again. N.B. the above are called elevens and
fours’. Only Ben and Will my shearers of Wheat.
Before the dew is of in the morn’ they mow Oats.
My Wheat this year not above 4 Acres. They shear
with sickles instead of Reap-Hooks. The form of
them like a Reap-Hook but the Edge of it hke a saw,
and they do exceeding well. Will brewed this morn-
ing a barrel of Ale before he went shearing Wheat at
12 o’clock.

Aug. 18. ... I buried poor Miss Rose this evening at
Weston aged 20 years. It was a very pretty decent
Funeral. But Js. Smith the Clerk made me wait in
performing the office at the grave near a Qr of an
Hour, the grave not being long enough a good deal.
It was a very great interruption. I gave it to Js.
afterwards. I had a Hatband and a pair of gloves
sent me. I was quite low this evening.

Aug. 25. ... Ben went to help Stephen Andrew’s Men

^ See pp 240-1, foot-note

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1778

at Harvest, came home in the evening in Liquor,
and at II o’clock after I got up to my Room to go
to bed, I heard my little Puppy cry much and there-
fore I went down to see what was the matter with
him and he had got his Head between the Pales by
the garden gate and could not get back again, I
released him and carried him towards the back door
and there I saw a light burning in Ben’s Room, upon
that I walked up into his Room, and there saw him
laying flat upon his back on the bed asleep with his
Cloaths on and the candle burning on the Table.
I waked him, made him put out the candle and talked
with him a little on it, but not much as he was not
in a capacity of answering but little. I was very
uneasy to see matters go on so badly. ,

Aug. 26. ... Mr. Baldwin called on us this morning,
and talked with us concerning a Midshipman’s Place
for Bill and desired us to drink a Dish of Tea with
him in the afternoon which we promised him. . . .
In the afternoon took a walk with Bill to Mr Bald-
win’s at Ling and there drank a dish of Tea with
him. Miss Vertue Baldwin, Mr. Hammerton, Dr
Neale. Had a good deal of Chat with Mr. Hammerton
about Bill. Bill is to go to London when Mr. Hammer-
ton goes which will be very soon, to show himself to
a Captain of a ship and that Mr. Hammerton will
use all his Interest for him. I have been most uneasy
and most unhappy all day about one thing or another.
When Bill goes away I shall have no one to converse
with — quite without a Friend.

The entry for this day has been much crossed out —
I suspect by some early Victorian great-mece of the
Diarist — but from such parts as are decipherable, taken

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1778

in conjunction with later entries, I gather that the
Diarist’s maid, Sukey, confesses to him that she is with
child by one Humphrey. Bill also had been causing him
anxiety for some time — again the entries have been
deleted, but portions are just decipherable — apparently
by paying too great attentions to the fair sex. The
combination of anxieties, and it is clear the Diarist was
much attached to his nephew — sufficiently accounts for
the depressed conclusion of this day’s entry.

Aug. 28. . . [The Diarist and Bill visit Mr. Hammer-

ton.] We sat and talked a good deal about Bill’s
proceeding with regard to the Navy. Mr. Hammerton
said that he would do what he could, and would
advance him money to rig himself out, if he succeeds,
upon my promise of paying him again soon. It was
so friendly in Mr Hammerton that I could not but
comply in so critical an affair BiU is therefore to go
in the London Coach on Sunday evening and wait
at the Swan and two Necks in Lads Lane London till
Mr. Hammerton calls on him, which he says will be
either Monday evening or Tuesday mormng early —
Mr. Hammerton rides. Very low and lU withal
especially going to bed. Sukey went before Justice
Buxton today with her [Information?] to swear to
the Father of the Child she is big with. I had a note
from,- Mr. Buxton which Sukey brought to desire the
Parish Officer the Overseer to come with her, and
then he would take her Information.

Aug. 29. ... My Maid Sukey went with Mr. Palmer
to Mr. Justice Buxton and he granted a Warrant to
take up Humphrey

Aug. 30. . .1 read Prayers and Preached this afternoon
at Weston. Gave my Nephew to go to London this

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1778

morning 5.5.0. About 8 in the evening I took a ride
with Bill to Norwich and there took a Place in the
Coach for him. We draiik Coffee at the King’s Head
this evening. We supped at the Angel Inn, as the
London Machine set out from thence at 12 at night.
I stayed with Bdl till 12, saw him safe into the
Machine and'then I went to the King’s Head where
I slept but very little. ... At the Angel this evening
I paid and gave o 7. o. I was very restless and
uneasy all night.

Sept. 3. I breakfasted, dined, supped and slept again
at home. I told Sukey this morning my Opinion of
her respecting the late affair that has happened to her.

Sept. 7 ... I sent a Note this morning to Mr. Custance
of Ringland to let him know that I would dine with
him to-day, but he was gone to dine with Sir Edmund
Bacon at Earlham.^ I took a ride in the evening to
Lyng, called at Mr. Baldwin’s and Mr Hammerton’s

^ Earlham has recently been made famous by Mr Percy Lubbock’s
book of that title A long history of the two manors there will be found
in vol IV of Blomefield’s of Norfolk (pp 509-16, edition of l8o6)

The property appears to have passed to the Bacon family in the second
half of the seventeenth century through the marriage of Elizabeth Waller
to Franas Bacon, Esq , a descendant of Queen Elizabeth’s Lord Keeper,
Sir Nicholas Bacon Edward Bacon, Esq , is stated by Blomefield in 1745
to be ‘ the present lord and patron, who hath his seat here ’. Edward
Bacon was for many years M P for Norwich (returned m 1754, 1761,
1768, 1744, and 1780), and Recorder. Sir Edmund Bacon had succeeded
to the preimer baronetcy of England (1611) and another of 1627 creation
on March 26, 1773 He married on January 29, 1778, Anne, first daughter
of Sir Wilham Beauchamp-Proctor (first baronet, 1745), and died Sep-
tember 5, 1820 (See Cokayne’s Baronetage under Bacon ) His wife was
Mrs Custance’s sister It will be remembered that Mr Lubbock describes
Earlham as being leased to the Gurneys towards the end of the eighteenth
century, in 1786, to be precise The Vicars of Earlham date back to
1267 , until the Reformation they were ‘ presented by the Nuns of
Carrow ’,

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and returned home again. About lo at Night my
Nephew returned from London and he brought me
a letter from Mr. Hammerton who informs me that
Captain Allen of the Chatham a 50 gun ship will
take my Nephew if he is properly and handsomely
equipped, which will cost about 60 Pounds He must
therefore go into the West and try his Friends. For
my part I cannot do it for him I am sure . .

Sept. 8. ... BiU breakfasted, dined and spent the after-
noon here and in the evening set of from my House
for the West to consult his Friends on the affair, and
try what they wiU do. I gave him to bear his expenses
3. 13. 6. He went to Norwich on Horseback and my
Servant Ben went with him, and then Ben returned
about II o’clock. He could not get a place in the
inside of the London Coach and therefore obliged to
ride in the outside. He goes from London in the
Frome or some other coach from the West. He is
greatly fatigued already.

Sept. 9. I breakfasted and slept again at home. Sent
a Letter this mormng by Mr. Burton to Mr Priests
at Reepham respecting my servant Boy whom I take
out of Charity, whether I am to pay for him accord-
ing to the late Act relating to Servants.^ Mr. Priest
is one of the Commissioners and there is a Meeting
this day at Reepham, concerning that and the duty
on Houses. To Mr. Burrow’s Harvest Men gave
o. I. o. I took a ride to Ringland about 2 o’clock

^ The tax on men servants was imposed in 1777 by Lord North when
compelled to find fresh revenue of nearly ^£250, 000 He borrowed the
idea from Adam Simth’s Wealth of Nations, and Adam Smith had bor-
rowed it from Holland, where the tax was in vogue In 1785 Pitt extended
the tax to maidservants, despite ‘ many jokes of a free description as
Stephen Dowell observes (See DowelFs History of Taxation, etc , vol 11,
pp 169-70 and 190-1 )

234

1778

and there dined, spent the afternoon and supped and
spent the evening at Mr. Custance’s with him, his
Wife and an old maiden Lady by name Miss Rush.
I spent a most agreeable day there and was very
merry. Mrs. Custance and self played at Back
Gammon together. Mr. and Mrs. Custance are very
agreeable people indeed, and both behaved exceed-
ingly polite and civil to me. I there saw an Instru-
ment which Mrs. Custance played on that I never
saw or heard of before. It is called Sticcardo pas-
torale. It IS very soft Music indeed. It is several
long pieces of glass laid in order in a case, resting on
each end of every piece of glass, and is played in the
middle parts of the glasses by two little sticks with
Nobbs at the end of them stricking the glass. It is
a very small Instrument and looks when covered like
a working Box for Ladies. * I also saw the prettiest
working Box with aU sorts of things in it for the
Ladies to carry with them when they go abroad,
about as big again as a Tea Chest, that ever I saw in
my Life. It could not cost less than five guineas
We had for dinner some common Fish, a Leg of
Mutton rosted and a baked Pudding the first Course ,
and a rost Duck, a Meat Pye, Eggs and Tarts the
second. For supper we had a brace of Partridges
rosted, some cold Tongue, Potatoes in Shells and
Tarts. I returned to Weston about past ten o’clock.
To Servants at Ringland — 2. — gave o. 2. o. Mr.
Custance also gave me to carry Home a brace of
Partridges, which my servant Will brought home.
They keep 6 Men Servants and 4 Maids.

Oct. 3. ... Had a letter this evening from my Sister
Pounsett and another from Mr. Pounsett both in-
closed in a Frank. Had another from Bill from

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London to desire me to send him a lo Pd Bill, but
cannot. He has got however from his Friends
so Pounds.

Oct. 5. I breakfasted, dined, supped and slept again at
home. Mr. Palmer called on me this morning and
I had a long chat with him about Sukey, also about
the Highways, and lastly about Methodists. To
Mr. Cary for things from Norwich etc. pd — o. 8 4.
About II o’clock at night just as I was going to bed
my Nephew Wm. Woodforde came to my House on
foot. He came this evening in the Norwich Coach
from London. He was much disappointed at London
on hearing that the Chatham was sailed and therefore
prevented going on board her. He slept at my
House but all the Folks were gone to bed and he
obliged to sleep without any sheets. The Ship was
sailed about a Week, 'they kept him in the Country
so long about raising 50 Pounds, that occasioned his
disappointment. 3 Weeks there.

Oct. 10. . I went to East Tuddenham and read

Prayers and preached a Charity sermon for du Quesne
there. A Mr. and Mrs. Reevans by Will gave some
Land to the Poor of that place and likewise money
for a sermon to be preached as on this day for ever.
I had not above 10 People at Church there to-day.

. . . Due to me from du Quesne for preaching for him
at Homngham 14 sermons at 10/6 each — 7. 7. o.

Oct. 14. ... Paid my Servant Maid Sukey Boxly this
morning a yrs wages due Oct. 10. The sum of 4. o. o.
Gave to h6r besides her Wages, as going away 040
I sent Cary’s Cart with one of my Horses by Ben to
Little Melton about 4 Miles beyond Easton after my
new Maid this afternoon, and she returned about
6 o’clock Her name is Ehz. Caxton about 40 yrs

236

1778

of age, but how she will do I know not as yet but her
Wages are 5. 15. 6 per annum, but out of that she
is to find herself in Tea and Sugar. She is not the
most engaging I must confess by her first appearance
that she makes. My other Maid came to me also
this evening Her name is Anne Lillistone of Lens-
wade Bridge about 18 years of age but very plain,
however I like her better than the other at the first
sight, I am to give her 2. o. o per annum and to make
her an allowance to find herself in Tea and Sugar.
Sukey this evening left us, but in Tears, most sad.

Oct. 29 ... Myself and Bill took a ride about Noon

to Mr. Baldwins at Lyng and there dined, spent the
afternoon, supped, and spent the evening and stayed
till after l in the Morn. We were very merry and
very agreeable there We had for dinner a dish of
Fish, some boiled fowls, some Bacon, a Tongue
boiled, a Leg of Mutton rosted, some Oysters, Mince
Pyes and Syllabubs We had for supper fryed
Herrings, hash Mutton, cold Tongue, Mince Pies,
and Syllabubs and stewed Pears. Mrs. Hammerton,
Mr. and Mrs. Baldwin, Miss Vertue, and Miss Nancy
Baldwin, and a Mr. Shute, a young Man Ensign in
the Guards, and a near Relation of Mrs. Baldwin,
and whose Father lives near Oxford at a place called
Shottover. We played at Cards both before and
after Supper. At which I lost the most in all about
o. 9. o. We did not get to Weston till 2 in the
morning and did not get to bed till near 4 o’clock.

Nov. 6. ... This morning I had some suspicion that
Bill was concerned with my Maid Nancy and also
that she appeared to me to be with child. I was
uneasy. But the Truth will appear e’er long if so.
Sukey my late Maid was at my House all day today

237

in

1778

to shew Nann to make Butter, and help
ironing. . . .

Nov. lo. ... Had a letter this evening from Sister
Pounsett with a Bank Bill in it of lo. o. o. Had
a letter also from Js. Lewis to petition my assistance,
he having lately broke his left arm. Put some Peas
into ground in my walled garden.

Nov. 13 ... [The Diarist and Bill go to Norwich for

the day.] I supped and spent the evemng with
Mr. Francis Senr, his Son and Daughter and Family
are at Saham. Bill was to have been at Mr. Francis’s
this evening but I apprehend he was after some of
the Town Ladies. After I came from Mr. Francis’s
I took a walk in pursuit of Bill but he was got to the
Inn.

Nov. 21. . I told my Maid Betty this mormng that
the other maid Nanny looked so big about the Waist
that I was afraid she was with Child, but Betty told
me she thought not, but would soon inform me if it
is so.

Nov. 23. ... I told Bill this mormng that I should
have nothing more to say to him or do for him —
and I gave him his money that he desired me to keep
for him. He was very low on the Occasion and
cried much. . . .

Nov. 26. ... [He visits Mr. du Quesne with his servant.]
As we came back it was stormy and dark and as we
came out of the Lane that goes to du Quesne’s upon
the Turnpike on the right hand just by the Direction
Post we could perceive a black Horse standing stiU
against the Hedge, but could not discover any Man
upon it, but as we just got into the Wood, Will said
he heard the Horse move as if coming after us, but
we jogged on and thank God got home very safe and

238

1778

undisturbed. It was between ii and 12 at night. It
had rather a suspicious appearance I thought.

Nov. 28. ... Bad News upon the Papers this evening
as the French, Spaniards, Americans and the Dutch
are all against us.

Nov. 29. ... I read Prayers and Preached this morning
at Weston. I had notice given in Church this morn-
ing for my Parishioners to meet at my House on
Tuesday next and pay their respective dues for Tithe.
Mr Hammerton sent a letter to Bill this afternoon
and in it one from a Mr. Toulmin agent for the
Chatham to Mr. Hammerton to inform him that the
Chatham would be at Sheerness the ensuing week,
and that Bill would set out to meet her there. Bill
went down immediately to Lyng to Mr Hammerton
and stayed there till near 8 o’clock. He is to go off
the ensuing week which I am glad of.

Dec. 7. . . About 8 this afternoon I went to Norwich
with my nephew who goes in the London Machine
this Night, on his sea expedition, which if he does not
succeed in on board the Chatham, is not to return
here but go into the West and get into a Bnstol
Privateer. Mrs. Hammerton sent up a Bottle of
Catchup to b€ carried to her son, but we could not
carry it. I put up my Horses at the King’s Head
and slept there. We drank Tea at the King’s Head
this evening and we supped together at the Angel
Inn in the Coffee Room there, from whence the Coach
sets of, I stayed there till the Coach went of, which
was exactly at 12 at night. I saw Bill safe into the
Coach and then returned to my Inn to sleep. Bill
set off in tolerable good spirits. I gave him to spend
between young Hammerton and self as we could not
carry the Catchup o. 10. 6. Gave to Bill besides for

239

1778

himself i. i. o. My servant Will went with us to
Norwich, and carried behind him two very fine
Turkey Cocks which went in the Coach, and they
were Presents from me to Mr. Toulmin and Mr.
Charles Hammerton Mr. Toulmin is Agent to the
Chatham and Mr. Hammerton is Brother to Mr.
Hammerton of Lyng and who behaved particularly
civil to Bill when last in London for there he slept
• • •

Dec. 8. I breakfasted and slept again at the King’s
Head. ... I went to Mr Priest’s where I dined and
spent the afternoon with him, his Wife, Miss Fanny
Priest their daughter who is but just alive, their son
John, Mr. Priest of Reepham and daughter Rebecca.
I paid Mr. Priest for Wine and Rum 6. 13. o. We
had for dinner some Norfolk Dumplins and a Goose
A very poor dinner for so many of us I think. The
two Priests and myself went to the Castle Hill in the
afternoon to see the Man Satire which was nothing
more than a large Monkey. I gave there 006.
It did not answer our Expectations at all.

Dec. 19. I breakfasted, dined, supped and slept again
at home. I shot a Rook and a Jackdaw at one shot
this morning and I believe 50 yards from me. I had
a long letter from my sister, Pounsett, this even’.
Admiral Keppell and Sir Hugh Palliser two of our
chief Admirals have had a grand Quarrel and are both
to have a Court Martial set upon them soon.^

^ The quarrel between Sir Hugh Palliser (1723-96) and Admiral Keppel
(1725-86) arose out of the indecisive action in the Channel of July 24-7,
1778, between the French and British Fleets Keppel was m command,
and Palliser m second command. It appears that Palliser disobeyed an
order of KeppePs at a vital moment, so the French Fleet got away,
Keppel honourably but unwisely suppressed any official report of Palliser’s
insubordination, but the facts leaked out, and Palliser, who hated Keppel

240

1778

Dec. 23. ... Mr. du Quesne, Mr. and Mrs. Howes,
Mr. Bodham, Mrs. Dav7 and children Betsy and
Nunn, Mr. and Miss Donne, and their cousin a little
boy by name Charles D< 5 nne of London dined and
spent the afternoon with me "being my Rotation and
all but Mr. du Quesne supped, and spent the whole
night with me being very dark and some falling rain.
Mr. Bodham, myself and Mr. Donne sat up the
whole night and played at cards till 6 in the morn-
ing. Mr and Mrs. Howes went to bed in my Bed-
room about 2 in the Morning. Miss Donne, Betsy
and Nunn Davis slept together in the Yellow Room
Mr Donnes Nephew slept in Will’s Room with Mr.
Donne’s Man Charles. All my Folks sat up. About
6 in the Morning we serenaded the folks that were
a bed with our best on the Hautboy. Mr. du Quesne
went home about 10 o’clock. I did all I could to
prevail on him to stay, but could not. I gave them
for dinner 3 Fowls boiled, part of a Ham, the major
part of which Ham was entirely eat out by the Flies
getting into it, a tongue boiled, a Leg of Mutton
rosted, and an excellent currant Pudding. I gave
them for Supper a couple of Rabbitts smothered in
onions, some Hash Mutton, and some rosted Potatoes.

— Keppel was a Whig and Palliser a Tory — surged his friend, Lord Sand-
wich (see pp 249-50) to have Keppel conrt-martialled Keppel was
charged with every bnd of inefficiency and even cowardice by his sub-
ordinate The court-martial was held, and resulted (F ebruary 1 1, 1 779) in
a triumphant vindication of Keppel The popular feeling was all on
KeppePs side, and the overjoyed mob burnt Palliser^s house in Pall Mall
and tore down the Admiralty gates London was illuminated for two
nights, and KeppePs head was painted on the signs of country inns, where
It is to be seen to this day (See notices of Keppel and Palliser in
D N B and Lecky’s Htstory of England tn the Eighteenth Century^
vol IV, pp 93-4)

241

R

1778

We were exceeding merry indeed all the night.
I believe at cards that I lost about o. 2. 6.

Dec. 26. ... Bad news from Oxford on the Paper this
evening, viz. that on Dec. 18 a terrible fire broke
out in Queen’s College at 3 in the morning, and
entirely destroyed the West Wing of the New
Quadrangle with the Provosts Buildings and burnt
quite to ground. I am very sorry for the sad
Misfortune.

Dec. 27. I breakfasted, dined, supped and slept again
at home. I read Prayers and administered the H:
Sacrament this morning at Weston Mr. and Mrs.
Custance of Ringland at Church and at the Sacra-
ment. As Mr. and Mrs. Custance were going to see
their brother, Mr. Press Custance after church, they
took me up in their coach and brought me home,
and they came into my House and warmed them-
selves and stayed f of an Hour. J. Smith my clerk,
Harry Dunnell and my late maid Sukey all dined
with our Folks in the Kitchen. I had part of a Rump
of Beef boiled and a Turkey rested. I sent Harry
Dunnell’s wife a dinner to-day. I was rather dull,
being quite alone.

Dec. 30. ... Mr. and Mrs. Howes and Mrs. Potter
dined and spent the afternoon with me and stayed
till 8 in the evening. I gave them for dinner a piece
of boiled Beef and a plain suet Pudding, and a fine
Turkey rested. Mason of Sparham came to my
House, with his 10 Bells this afternoon and played
before my Company and they were as well pleased
as Children on hearing them. . .

1779. Jan. 1st. I breakfasted, dmed, supped and slept
again at home. This morning very early about
I o’clock a most dreadful storm of wind with Hail

242

1779

and Snow happened here and the Wind did not quite
abate till the evening. A little before 2 o’clock
I got up, my bedsted rocking under me, and never
in my life that I know of, did I remember the Wind
so high or of so long continuance. I expected every
Moment that some part or other of my House must
have been blown down, but blessed be God the
whole stood, only a few Tiles displaced. My Servants
also perceived their Bedsteds to shake. Thanks be to
God that none of my People or self were hurt. My
Chancel received great damage as did my Barn. The
Leads from my Chancel were almost all blown of
with some Parts of the Roof. The North West
Window blown in and smashed aU to pieces. The
East Wmdow also damaged but not greatly. The
North W: Leads on the top of the Church also, some
of them blown up and ruffled, besides 2 windows
injured. The Clay on the North end of my Barn
blown in and the West side of the Roof the Thatch,
most aU blown away, leaving many holes in it. The
damage sustained by me will amount I suppose to
50 Pounds if not more. However I thank God no
lives were lost that I hear of and I hope not. Mr.
Shaddlelows Barn, Michael Andrews’s, with many
others all blown down. Numbers of Trees torn up
by the Roots in many Places. In the evening the
Wind abated and was quite calm when I went to
bed about li o’clock. Since what happened this
morning, I prolonged the Letter that I designed to
send to my sister Pounsett to relate what had happened
here by the storm. And this evening sent it to her
by Mr. Cary. A smart frost this evening. As the
year begins rather unfortunate to me, hope the other
Parts of it will be as propitious to me.

243 R 2

1779

kept a place open entirely for him, and that he would
have been very soon promoted. The Captain was
much displeased as well as Mr. Hammerton, who had
both been very Mnd to him and did all they could
for him. He will never I beheve turn out very well
anywhere, and his Parents whatever they may pro-
mise, wdll do nothing. His Father had wrote a Letter
to him to let him know that he would get a
Lieutenancy of Marines for him — that his Uncle
Thos. Woodforde had proimsed to speak to my
L**. Guildford ^ for him about the same. I wish my
Head might never ake before that Time.

Jan 25. . . Busy this morning in cleamng my Jack,

and did it completely. My stomach rather sick this
evening — ^Mince Pye rose oft

Jan. 26. [Rotation Day at Mr. Howes]. . . . Just as the
Company was gone Mrs. Howes attacked Mr. Howes
about putting down the chaise and she talked very
loughly to him and strutted about the Room. It
was rather too much m her. I did not stay long
to hear it, but soon decamped and was at home
before 10.

Feb. 6 [at Norwich]. ... I went to Mr. Priest’s and
Mr Priest, a Mr. Ferman and myself went to see
a remarkable large Pigg, which even exceeded our Idea
of him. He is said to weigh 50 stone, is 9 foot from
the Tip of his Tail to the Top of his Snout in length,
and 4 foot high when standing. He is obhged to be

^ Francis North, first Earl of Guilford (1704-90) He was father of
the famous Lord North, Prime Mimster (though he himself asserted that
‘ there was no such thmg in the Bntish Constitution *) from 1770 to 1782
Lord Guilford was not a remarkable man in any way, but he was a great
favourite at Court (of George III and Queen Charlotte), and therefore
very influential (SeeZ) N £)

24s

1779

helped up when down. I never saw such a Creature
in my Life.

Feb. 9. I breakfasted and slept again at home. At
I o’clock took a ride to Lyng and dined, spent the
afternoon, supped and spent the evemng and stayed
till after 2 this morning at Mr. Hammerton’s, with
him and his Wife, Mr. and Mrs. Baldwin and Miss
Nancy. Mr. Loyd and his wife of Belough, dined
and spent the afternoon and stayed till near 8 in the
evening with us at Mr. Hammerton’s. We had for
dinner a Leg of Mutton boiled and Capers, 3 Fowls
rosted, and a Tongue, a plain Pudding, Custards,
Tarts and Syllabubs. For supper a hot Gibblett Pye,
cold Fowl and Tongue, Potted Beef, Tarts, Custards
and Syllabubs. Mr. Loyd is a very agreeable Man,
sings exceeding well, keeps a Pack of Hounds, is
a Captain in the Mihtia, a Justice of Peace, and of
good Fortunes. At Loo this evemng Nancy Baldwin
and myself going partners, we won between us
o. 5. o. I took 2 shiUings and gave Nancy the rest.
We were very merry indeed all the whole Time.
I gave to Mr. Hammerton’s servants — 0. 2. o. I did
not get to bed till after 4 this mormng. My Maid
Nanny walked downstairs to the kitchen door naked
this night in her sleep.

Feb. 13. ... By this Days Paper an account is given
that the trial of Admiral Keppel is over, and that the
Court had ‘ declared and said that the Court are
‘ unanimously of opinion that the charge of Sir Hugh
‘ PaUiser is malicious and ill-founded, and that
‘ Admiral Keppel behaved as became a judicious,
‘ brave and experienced officer. This Court there-
‘ fore do honourably acquit him. . . .’ At the receipt
of the above mtelhgence a general Illumination took

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1779

place throughout London and Westminster accom-
panied hj ringing of Bells, firing of Canon etc.^
I gave the People at work for me at church a pretty
severe Jobation this aft: finding them at the Inn.

Feb. 17. ... I lent my servant Will: Coleman this
evening to subscribe towards raising a Man for
the Militia if he should be drawn, as there are
many more that have done the same at 10/6 each
I: i: o.

Feb. 27. ... Never known scarce such fine weather at
this season of the year, and of so long Continuance
ever since almost the storm of the i of Jan. It was
like June to-day. Thanks to God for such glorious
weather.

March 5. ... Sent a letter this evening to Dr. Oglander,
Warden of New College to petition him for assistance
in repairing my Chancel with the Society. . . .

Mar. 15. ... I spent some part of the morning at
Church and my new seat (and a very handsome one
made of Deal) was fimshed this day in putting up
in the Chancel and made by Mr. Pyle of Hockering,
but I found most of the Deal to do it with. The
old seat that was is converted into a Servants seat —
and they both look neat and will completely so when
pamted.

Mar. 23. I breakfasted, and slept again at home.
Memorandum. In shaving my face this morning
I happened to cut one of my moles which bled
much, and happemng also to kill a small moth that
was flying about, I applied it to my mole and it
instantaneously stopped the bleedmg.

Mar. 30. . . Never known perhaps such a long con-

tinuance of dry and fine Weather, we have had no
1 See pp 240-1, foot-note.

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1779

settled Rain for any time for almost two years last
past.

Mar. 31. I breakfasted and slept again at home. I took
a ride about 2 o’clock to Mr. Custance’s at Ringland,
and there dined, supped, spent the even’ with him
and his wife and Lady Bacon. We had for dinner
for the I. course a dish of fish, a Leg of Mutton,
rosted and some Ham and Chicken Tarts. The 2nd
Course an Orange Apple Pudding, some Asparagus,
Veal Collops, Syllabubs and Jelly Soon after dinner
was obliged to return to Overton to bury old Mrs.
Pegg at 5 o’clock which I did aged 73 yrs. I had
a Hatband and a pair of white Mdd gloves. I returned
to Mr. Custances by tea time and after tea we got
to Cards to Whist at which I lost o 1.6. Mrs. Cus-
tance and self attacked Lady Bacon and Mr. Custance.
I spent a very agreeable day there to-day. We had
some Parmezan Cheese after dinner and supper of
which I eat very hearty and like it exceedingly.
I gave to one of Mr. Custance’s servants o. i. o.
I got home about 1 1 at night.

April 3. ... Quite a Summer’s day and exceeding fair.
Had a letter this evening from my Sister Pounsett.
Had another from Dr. Oglander, Warden of New
Coll: Oxford, in answer to mine, and very satis-
factory it was. Five poor unhappy young men were
hanged this day at Norwich, for divers misdemeanours,
at the last Assizes they were condemned — Bell, Boddy,
Bridges, Partridge and Gryfin, none of them but
what were quite young, but Villains. . . .

April II ... Between ii and 12 o’clock this morning
I went to Church and publickly christned Mr. Cus-
tance’s child of Ringland, it had been privately
named before, and the name of it was Hambleton

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Thomas. The Gossips were Sir Edmund Bacon
Proxy for Sir Thomas Beauchamp, Mr. Press Custance
and Lady Bacon. Mr. and Mrs. Custance also present
at the ceremony. There were Coaches at Church.
Mr. Custance immediately after the Ceremony came
to me and desired me to accept a small Present ; it
was wrapped up in a Piece of white Paper very neat,
and on opening of it, I found it contained nothing
less than the sum of 4. 4. o He gave the Clerk
also o. 10. 6.

April 15. I breakfasted, and supped again at home.
About 2 o’clock took a ride to Mr. Custance’s at
Ringland and there dined, spent the afternoon supped
and spent the evening with him and Mrs. Custance,
and Lady Bacon. Sir Edmund Bacon came to us just
at supper time and he supped etc there. Sir Edmund
was rather merry, and was very cheerful. He is
quite a young man and personable, but has an odd
cast with his eyes, — ^rather cross sighted I spent
a very agreeable day at Ringland. We had for dinner
a Breast of Veal ragouted, a fine Piece of boiled beef,
a Pidgeon Pye, Custards, Puffs, and some Lemon
Cream. For Supper, a young Chicken, cold tongue
etc. At Whist this evening, Mrs. Custance and
myself against Lady Bacon and Mr. Custance — and
I lost o. 2. o. It was astonishing hot and sultry most
part of the day, and in the evening a good deal of
lightening. Most uncommon weather for the time
of the year. The Thermometer as high as at any
time last summer. I got home about 1 1 at night.

April 17. I breakfasted, dmed, supped and slept again
at home. A Miss Wray Mistress to Lord Sandwich ^

^ John Montagu, fourth Earl of Sandwich (1718-92), after a varied
career as general, pohtician, and ambassador, became First Lord of the

249

1779

was last week shot thro the head as she was getting
into her Coach from the Playhouse in London, by
one Mr. Ackman, a Clergyman, he was immediately
taken into custody and will be hanged it is supposed.
It is thought that it was done thro’ dispair of love.
He immediately after shooting her discharged another
Pistol at his own head, it grazed his fore-head but
did not kill him, as some one pulled his arm. A
Captain Bruce also last week shot himself thro the
head, but not immediately killed him, he then fell
on his sword which broke in his body , a servant then
got into the room, a Surgeon was sent for who dressed
his wounds and put him to bed. He then took
a large knife, not having despatched himself and
stabbed himself which also broke and that wound
was dressed. He then took a Pen-knife and cut his
throat and then expired soon He had not a great
while ago married a woman of 3000 Pd per annum.
No reason assigned for it. Such things indeed are
very dismal to read.

Admiralty in Lord North’s Ministry on January 12, 1771 — a post which
he held till Lord North’s fall from power in 1782 His tenure of office
synchronized with a deplorably corrupt and inefficient administration of
the Navy, continumg throughout the Amencan War He was nick-named
‘ Jemmy Twitcher ’ (of Beggafs Opera fame) as early as 1763, on account
of his conduct against Wilkes, once his boon companion On the other
hand he was the patron of the celebrated pioneer, Captain Cook, who
named the Sandwich Islands after him Sandwich’s mistress, Miss Martha
Ray, had lived with him for sixteen years when she was murdered by the
Rev James Hackman She was a good musician, and the musical enter-
tainments at Hinchinbroke (which the Montagus bought from the
Cromwells in the seventeenth century) were celebrated for their excel-
lence (See D N B, also Mr D A Winstanley’s The Unwerstty of
Cambridge in the Eighteenth Century, for an account of the famous contest
between Lord Sandwich and Lord Hardwicke for the Stewardship of the
Umversity.)

250

1779

April 1 8. ... I read Prayers and Preached this morning
at Weston, Mr. and Mrs Custance of Ringland were
at Church and sat in my new seat in the Chancel —
their new seat in the Church not being finished as
yet. I gave Mrs. Custance a fine flower, a double
Stock. . .

April 28. I . . . took a ride ... to Sparham and made
a visit to the Revd. Mr. Attle who behaved very
complaisant and avil tho’ a visit so long due to him
from me. I drank a dish of Coffee, and one dish of
Tea there and returned home. He has a noble
House and his fields about him look exceeding neat
and well He built the House himself and it cost
him 1000 Pound.

Between May 4 and May 8, the Diarist and Mr. Hall
of Winborough ‘ put into execution a Scheme upon the
Northern Coast of Norfolk which had been some time
talked of’. Servant Will went with them. First they
went to Cromer, ‘famous for catching of Crabbs and
Lobsters ’. Next they went to Cley and thence to
Wells. At Wells they spent the mght at ‘ the Royal
Standard kept by one Smith, a civil and obliging man ’,
and the day following ‘ got into a small boat, and went
to sea in it ’. The Diarist, however, did not enjoy him-
self, though they went out but a httle way, as he was
very ‘ near sick as was Will — and the waves so large that
frightened me, as I thought it dangerous ’. From Wells
they went to Houghton Hall, Lord Orford’s ^ seat, ‘ the
House and Furniture the grandest I ever saw and the
Pictures are supposed to be the best collection in Europe ’.
After visitmg Lynn Regis, Swaffam, and Dereham the

1 George Walpole, third Earl of Orford, 1730-91 , he was grandson
of the Prime Mimster, Sir Robert Walpole.

251

1779

party returned to their respective homes on May 8,
Mr. Hall to Winborough, and the Diarist and Will to
Weston.

May 15. . . Bled my three Horses this morning,

2 quarts each. . . .

May 18. . • Mr. Howes and Wife and Mrs. Davy,

Mr. Bodham and his Brother, and Mr du Quesne
all dined and spent the afternoon and part of the
evening with us to-day. I gave them for dinner
a dish of Maccarel, 3 young Chicken boiled and some
Bacon, a neck of Pork rosted and a Gooseberry Pye
hot. We laughed immoderately after dinner on
Mrs. Howes’s being sent to Coventry by us for
an Hour. What with laughing and eating hot
Gooseberry Pye brought on me the Hickupps with
a violent pain in my stomach which lasted till
I went to bed. At Cards Quadrille this evemng —
lost o. 2. 6.

May 21. ... Sent a letter this evening by’ Cary to Dr.
Oglander Warden of New Coll: with a bill of the
expenses on the repairing of my Church — in all
73. 10. Ilf.

May 22. ... My Boy Jack had another touch of the
Ague about noon. I gave him a dram of gin at the
beginning of the fit and pushed him headlong into
one of my Ponds and ordered him to bed immediately
and he was better after it and had nothing of the cold
fit after, but was very hot. . . .

May 27. ... My Maid Nanny was taken very ill this
evening with a dizzmess in the Head and a desire to
vomit, but could not. Her straimng to yomit brought
on the Hickups which continued very violent till after
she got to bed. I gave her a dose of rhubarb going

252

1779

to bed. Ben was also very ill and in the same com-
plaint about noon, but he vomited and was soon
better. I gave Ben a good dose of Rhubarb also
going to bed.

May 31. I breakfasted at home, and at 6 this morning
set forth on my Mare for the West-Country, and
took my man Will Coleman with me, who rode my
great Horse. . . .

The journey occupied six days and was uneventful.
On the 31st they slept at Barton Mills at the BuU ; on
June 1st at Royston at the Talbot — as they passed
through Newmarket in the morning they saw Lord
Orford, ‘ just going out a-hawHng ’ — on June 2nd at
Aylesbury at the George Inn ; on June 3rd at Newbury
at the Pelican ; on June 4th at Amesbury at the New Inn ;
and on June 5th they arrived at eight in the evening at
Ansford, ‘ and I thank God found all my Friends there
hearty and well, and exceeding glad to see me. I supped
and slept at Mr Pounsett’s — ^my Horses there also. My
man WiU: Coleman supped and slept there also. . . .’
The six days’ journey cost the Diarist in all y.
including the horses.

For more than three months the Diarist and Will
stayed at Ansford — ^Mr. du Quesne taking the duty
meanwhile at Weston. At Ansford we immediately get
back into the old Somerset atmosphere, the days spent
in a constant interchange of generous hospitality between
the numerous relations and friends, in frequent fishing
expeditions, occasional visitmg of feasts and fairs, and
jaunts further afield. Needless to say the Lewis’s, father
and son, very shabby as usual, turn up, having walked
from Nottinghamshire, and live on their hospitable
relations for some weeks.

253

1779

June 12 Mr. Js Clarke, Brother John’s Wife and
Nancy Woodforde and sister Clarke, dined, spent the
afternoon, supped and spent the evening with us.
Richard Clarke and Wife and Brother John spent the
afternoon with us also, but was very disagreeable,
being drunk, and was going to fight with James
Clarke and swore abominably. It was 12 o’clock
before we got to bed being so much disturbed — I
pity his wife much. . . .

July I. ... About noon I walked down to Cary with
Brother Heighes and read the London Paper at the
George Inn. I treated Brother Heighes with a Pint
of Beer — I pd o. o. 21- After that I went to Richard
Clarkes and dined, spent the afternoon, supped and
spent the evenmg there with him and his Wife,
James Clarke, my Brother John’s Wife, and Nancy
Woodforde, and my Sister Pounsett. We had for
dinner 3 fowls boiled and a Piggs Face, a Haunch of
Venison rosted and sweet Sauce, Tarts and Cheese
cakes. N.B. Not a bit of Fat was there on the Venison.
Brother Heighes, Brother John, Juhana Woodforde
and Sister Clarke supped and spent the evemng
with us.

July 3. ... Brother Heighes complained of being
very poor this afternoon. I therefore let him
have I. I. o for which I had of him an old Family
gold ring which he is to have again when he can
repay me.

July 9. ... I went a fishing by myself this morning
down to Wick Bridge and angled from thence to
Cole and there I dmed, and spent the afternoon at
Mr. Guppey’s with him, his sister and Mr. Pounsett.
We had for dinner some bacon and beans, a shoulder
of Mutton and Currant Pye. I caught 3 Trout, the

254

1779

largest 14 inches and half long — ^which I caught with
two Grasshoppers and a small hook. Whilst I was
a fifilnng this morning, Bill Woodforde came to me
on Horseback to take his leave of me as he was then
going of for Portsmouth to go aboard the fortune
Sloop of War, of 12 gunns, and in the same capacity
as he was to have went in the Chatharn of 50 gunns.
The latter would have been much better and he
repents much of not going, but is now too late.
I wished him well, but gave him nothing at all. To
Mr. Guppey’s Maid Sybbyll, for a poor woman in
distress at Shepton Montague — gave o i. o To
Mr. Guppey’s man to Elhs Coleman gave 0. i. o.
Sister Clarke supped and spent the evemng with us
July 19. . . This being the Bishop’s Visitation at

Bruton to-day I took my Mare and rode over to see
some of the Clergy whom I have been long acquainted
with. I went to the Church, heard the Prayers read
by Mr. Hall and heard also the Visitation Sermon
preached by Mr. Wickham of Shepton Mallett, and
after that I heard the Bishop’s charge to his Clergy,
which chiefly consisted of advising them to catechise
the children publickly and to give them Lectures on
the same, recommending the late Metropohtan’s
(Dr. Seeker) ^ Dissertations on the Catechism, and
lastly of visiting the sick with an encomium on the

^ Thomas Seeker (1693-1768), Archbishop of Canterbury He was
one of the best of the lesser known archbishops, a man of great intel-
lectual ability — ^the devoted friend of the great Bishop Butler — of wonder-
fully tolerant mind, sympathetic to Wesley, friendly with the Dissenters,
hostile to any persecution of the Jacobite Scottish clergy after the defeat
of 1745 Originally intended for the Dissenting ministry, then temporarily
turning from theological studies to medicine — he was made an M D of
Leyden in 1721 for a brilliant medical thesis — ^he finally decided to enter
Anglican Orders Through the stages of country parson and London

25s

1779

King. I saw Will: Bailey, little Mr. Hunt, Mr.
Wragg, Mr. Marsh, Mr. Rawkins, Mr. Wickham,
Mr. Millard, Mr. Goldsborough, Mr. Thomas of
Cary etc. etc.. The Bishop of Bath and Wells is
Dr. Charles Moss. . . N.B. I stole a goose this
morning from my Sister White and asked her to
dine upon it to-morrow, and she is to know nothing
of it. I told her I had a Swan. Mr. White went to
Sherborne Fair this morning. I lent him my great
Horse to go there.

July 21. I breakfasted and spent the morning at
Ansford. About 12 o’clock I got into the Weymouth
Machine from Bath and set of by myself for Wey-
mouth. There was only one man in it who was
dressed as a gentleman and behaved as such. His
name was Watson. We dined at Sherborn at the
George, a shabby Inn and had a most miserable
dinner, about 2 Pound of boiled beef and a old tame
Rabbitt. I paid for my dinner at Sherborne o 1.6.
We then went on to Dorchester and there we had
a bottle of the famous Dorchester Beer and very good
It was. For the bottle of Beer I paid myself o. o. 6.
We got to Weymouth about 8 o’clock and there

parson he became 8nccessiTel7 Bishop of Bnstol and Bishop of Oxford,
finally entering Lambeth Palace in 1758 (See the account of Archbishop
Seeker in Mr A W.'RoyrieD.’iThePrmatesof the Four Georges , Murray,
1916 Also D.N.B)

^ Charles Moss (1711-1802), Bishop successively of St Davids and of
Bath and Wells, nephew of Robert Moss (1666-1729), Dean of Ely, and
father of Charles Moss (1763-1811), Bishop of Oxford. He was son
of a Norfolk gentleman-farmer, and inherited a large fortune from his
unde the Dean He was an amiable prelate, and strongly" supported
Hannah MoreV educational activities in Somerset Most of his con-
siderable wealth he left to his son, upon whom he had already bestowed
vanous promotions in the Church (See D.NB)

256

1779

I supped and slept at the King’s Head kept by one
Loder a very good Inn and very civill people. To
the Coachman for my fare paid o. 9. 6. To the
Coachman for himself gave o. i. o. Mr. Watson and
self supped together — ^for my share pd o. 2. o.

July 23. ... Mr. Watson who came with me (I heard
this afternoon) was a Hair Dresser from Bristol and
dresses Ladies heads. Weymouth at present has but
little company in it. F or my dinner to-day and supper
to-mght and lodging three nights paid this evening
to Mrs. Loder o. 6. 9.

July 27. . . About II this morning I took a ride with
my Sister (who rode behind my Servant) to S. Cad-
bury, and there I left her at Mr. Slades, where she
dined etc. I went afterwards on my Mare by myself
to Milborne Port about 5 miles from S. Cadbury
and there I dined and spent the afternoon at Mr.
Lucas’s, with him, his Mother and Sister Chandler
and 2 young gentlemen. Lucas is just the same man
as at New College. He has the Vicarage of Milborn
Port being Fellow of Wmton Coll; his Mother and
Sister keep his House for him, — ^he told me that his
present income was about 350 Pd. per annum.
One of the young Gentlemen that dined with us
lives at Queen Camel and is a Clergyman — ^his name
Charles. The other was a lad and lately a Chorister
of New Coll" His name was Charles Marsh, and
I remembered him there. Lucas was very glad to
see me. At 5. left him. We had for dinner some
boiled Pork and Beans, a couple of Ducks rosted, and
an Apricot Pudding. Going to Lucas’s, I saw Jack
Windham and his Wife in a Phaeton and Pair going
from Corton to Cadbury, but was not near enough
to speak to him. He has the Living of Corton and

257 S

1779

resides there. He married a Miss Bowls of Sahsbury,
Canon Bowis’s daughter. Jack Windham is a Doctor
of Law. I returned to Cadbury about 7 in the even-
ing, stayed there half an hour, and returned with my
Sister to Ansford about 9 o’clock.

Aug. 12. I breakfasted, dined, supped and slept again
at Bath [whither he had gone on a jaunt on August 10,
visi tin g Bristol also] Js. Lewis and his son called on
pie this morning at Bath but did not stay long — ^they
were going for Nottingham. I did not give either of
them anything at all. [The Lewis’s had been at
Ansford since July ii, having walked from Notting-
ham.] To a Barber this morning of Bath gave o. o. 6.
After breakfast and dressing I took a walk and near
the Parade met with my good old Friend Dr. Penny
who was hearty and well. I walked with him to the
Bank and to the Coffee House, and the Dr. seeing
a Miss Bhsse walking by the Coffee House, he joined
her and I saw nothing more of him afterwards at
Bath. I called at the 3 Innes etc but he was gone.
At the 3 Innes for some Rum and water pd. o. o. 3.
For a pair of Garters this morning pd. o. i. o. To
some Fish Hooks — 2 dozen pd. also o. 2. o. To 2 new
Pamphletts concerning a Tithe cause pd. o. 6. 0
I went and saw the Abbey Church which is kept
very neat, and a great many Monuments in it. At
Davis’s Fruit Shop this aft. for a Melon pd. o. 2. 6.
For 3 Pd of Filberts pd also o i. 4. After tea this
evemng I took a walk in the Fields and met in my
walk two Girls, the eldest about 17, the other about
15, both common Prostitutes even at that early age ;
I gave thend some good Advice to consider the End
of things. I gave them o. i. 0. I paid my Bill this
evenmg at the Christopher as I intend going of
258

1779

early tomorrow morn’ in all o. 14. 6. Bells ringing
etc at Bath today, being the Prince’s Birth Day.

Aug. 13. I got up this mormng about 6 o’clock and at
7 got into the Dihgence for Ansford. To the Chamber
Maid at Bath gave o. i. 6 Waiter i/o. Dep. Waiter
6 d. Boot Catch 6 d. o. 2 o. A Clergyman by name
Austin from the City of Kilkenny in Ireland went
with me in the Dihgence from Bath he being going
to see a Friend at Weymouth. He was a very good
kind of man by his appearance. He knew Js. Lewis
and his Father very well. He was a Scholar of old
Mr. Lewis and he gave him a very high character,
but a very bad one of Js Lewis He told me that
Js. Lewis was one of the most wild turn, that when
a Boy he shot another Boy thro’ the head but by
accident. That he had been a Deserter to the French
in the Rebelhon 45 and saved bemg shot by bringing
back 10 Deserters with him. That he had quite tired
his Friends in Ireland and would do the same in
England. A common expression of Js. Lewis’s when
in Ireland was that his Being was in En gla nd, We
breakfasted together at Gannards Grave on some
Brandy and Milk for which I paid o o. 6. At Gan-
nards Grave we took up 2 Passengers one inside and
one outside — three Passengers in the inside made it
very disagreeable in so small a Diligence. I got to
Ansford about 12 and there I supped and slept at
Mr. Pounsett’s— gave the Driver Tom Smith o. 1. o.
Mr. Guppey, Mr. Thomas, Sister White and one
John White of Brinton who came with Mr. Guppey
dined etc here. We had a fine young Hare for
dinner

Aug. 19. ... When I returned home [from a fiabing
expedition] I found the people at Ansford etc in

2S9 s 2

1779

great Consternation, a report being spread hy John
Burge of Castle Cary that the French and Spanish
Fleets were engaging at Portsmouth, that 3 of our
Line were sunk and that the Spanish and French
Fleets consisted of more than 60 Ships of the Line,
and ours only 40 Ships That the Stones in Ports-
mouth Street were taken up etc. As it came from
such Authority I don’t credit it at all. John Burge
said that he had it from a Man who saw the engage-
ment, and saw also our 3 Ships sink and that the Sea
looked on fire where the Engagement was. It
fnghtened my Sisters White and Pounsett very
much.

Aug. 20 . In the evening I walked to South Cary

to old Mrs. Pennys and there Mr. Pounsett and self
smoked a Pipe with Dr Penny. Nothing true about
the French as mentioned yesterday. . . .

Aug. 23rd I got up this morning between 5 and 6 and
at 6 I took a ride and my servant with me to Wells,
we got there about 8 and there we breakfasted at
the Goat kept by Robin Coleman’s Widow For my
Breakfast etc. pd. o. i 4. After breakfast I walked
down to Mr Wickham’s who hves close to the
Deanery and there saw Mr. and Mrs. Wickham their
son Tom and his two sisters, Betty and Fanny.
A Mr. Skinner and Son from Richmond were there
also. Mr and Mrs Wickham pressed me to dine
with them. I then went back to my Inn got upon
my Mare and went on to Cheddar 8 miles from Wells.
We got there about ii o’clock, put up my Horse at
the Buck there and then Will and myself walked to
the Cliffs to see them, about f mile from the Inn,
and most grand appearance did they make. We
walked quite thro’ them, which could not be less

260

1779

than a mile They are supposed to be rent asunder
by an Earthquake. Some of the Rocks I suppose are
above 300 feet Perpendicular, each side of the Rocks
exactly corresponds with one another, like the teeth
of a gm when extended. It exceeded my expectation
greatly indeed. I set of from Cheddar a Qr before
2 o’clock, and we returned "to Wells by 3. I got of
at Mr. Wickhams and Will had the Horses to the Goat
and there he dined etc. Paid at Cheddar for our-
selves and Horses o i. 4. I dined and spent the
afternoon at Mr. Wickhams with him, his Wife,
2 daughters and son, Mr. Skinner and son, and
a clergyman by name Purcell who lives on the public.
We had for dinner some boiled Beef, a Fillett of Veal
rosted and a plumb Pudding. Mulberries and Pears
after dinner A Mr Cambridge and his two sisters
from Richmond called at Mr. Wickhams in a Chaise
this afternoon, being just returned from Plymouth,
he informed us that Plymouth and Exeter were in
great consternation about the French and Spanish
Fleets who wer-e on Wednesday last about 5 leagues
from Plymouth, they saw them very plam from the
Hill near Plymouth and could distinctly tell the
numbers of the Ships and they amounted to only
73 sail instead of 103 as reported. Mr. Cambridge
saw an engagement between one of our Ships by
name the Ardent of 50 Gunns, Capt. Boteler, and
3 of the Enemy’s and she was obhged to strike to
them after an engagement of 4 Hours and half. It
happened on tuesday last, — Sir Charles Hardy not to
be found a. general engagement is daily expected
between the Fleets. . .

The entries of August 19th and 23rd bear vivid witness

261

1779

to the extraordinary perE the country was in in this
summer of 1779. Mr. John Burge was, of course, a mere
purveyor of rumour, but the actual danger was very
great. The French and Spanish Fleets had combined,
and entering the Channel in August, outnumbered the
English Fleet under Sir Charles Hardy (1716-80) by
practically two to one ‘ For the first time ’, says Lecky,
‘ since 1690, England saw a vast fleet commanding her
seas, and threatening and insulting her coasts.’ Invasion
was almost hourly expected ‘ The danger appeared
extreme. The humiliation was intolerable, and the
letters of the most serious members of the Opposition
show that, in their opinion, the country had been con-
ducted to the very brink of ruin. Fortunately, however,
the hostile fleet was feebly commanded, and very imper-
fectly equipped. Sickness raged violently in its crews,
and early in September, as the season of the equinoctial
gales was rapidly approaching, it retired to Brest, where
it remained inactive for several months. A great pamc
and humihation, and the capture of a single ship of war
of sixty-four guns, were the sole fruits of the expedition.’ ^

Sep- 6 I breakfasted, dined, supped and slept agam at
Ansford Nancy Woodforde dined and spent the
afternoon with us. I gave this mornmg to my Sister
Pounsett I. I. o to be laid out in something for her
little Maid To Nancy Hossy late my Sister’s Maid
for making some Handkerchiefs for me etc. — ^gave
her — 0. 2. 6 I gave her coimng away bemg a pretty
Girl one Kiss. Mr. White, Js. Clarke, and Mr.
Pounsett and self walked up to Ansford Tnu m the
afternoon and smoked a pipe there. On Liquor etc.

^ Lecky’s History of England tn the Eighteenth Century, vol iv, pp iii-
1 3 See also notice of Hardy in D. N. B

262

1779

we each paid o. i. o. Dr. Rock an old Schoolfellow
of mine and Mr. Wickham’s son Thomas, came to
Ansford Inn this evening in a Whiskey and they were
with us half an hour. Gave to James White and little
Ann White this evening o. lo. o. Great firing of
Cannon heard at Ansford this afternoon

Sep. 8 . At 9 this morning I took my Leave of my

Friends, leaving them in Tears, and was of for
Norfolk. . . [He and his servant sleep that
mght at Sahsbury ] I went and saw 1 50 French
Prisoners this even’ that are on their march to
Winchester

Sep 9. I slept exceeding well last mght having a veiy
good bed. I got up at 6 this morning and saw the
French Prisoners march of for Winchester, accom-
panied by a Troop of Horse. After that I took
a walk by myself to the Camp about two miles South
of Sahsbury, and there breakfasted at the Camp
Coffee House for Officers etc. All Horse encamped
there 6 Regiments in all. The Camp made a very
pretty appearance. . . . [They proceed on their way
and sleep at Winchester ]

Sep. 10. I slept very sound last night having a very
good bed. I breakfasted at the George [Winchester]
and after breakfast took a walk to the King’s House
and saw the French Prisoners, walked over the Prison
with a civil Soldier. I gave the Soldier that went
with me o. o. 6. I saw also the 150 French Prisoners
that came from Stockbridge this morning, dehvered
into Prison, each of them had a new straw Bed given
him and a coarse Hammock to lay it upon. There
are now in the Prison about 4000, and it is said that
the Prison will hold 6000 more. Many of the Prisoners
are supposed to be English, especially some of the

263

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Boys wlio talk English very well. About noon we
marched of from Winton. . . .

These references by the Diarist to the cavalry camp,
south of Salisbury, and the prison for Trench prisoners
at Winchester, bring out with vivid force the fact that
our defensive system throughout the eighteenth century
and until the end of the nineteenth century was directed
against the ancestral enemy France So entirely had the
national energies been concentrated in facing towards
France that when the menace changed — ^historically
with dreanailike rapidity — ^from the Channel to the North
Sea, we were so unprepared that no really safe harbour
was ready in 1914 for the Grand Fleet on the eastern
coasts either of England or Scotland. This is admirably
brought out in Mr. Winston Churchill’s book, The,^
World Crisis, xgix-X 4 ?- The general unpreparedness of
the eastern coast of Great Britain, on the outbreak of war
with Germany, is in itself an overwhelming proof that
our intentions towards Germany were pacific

Sep. 12. 1 breakfasted and slept again at the Blue Boar
[Oxford, whither the Diarist and Will had come via
Andover where they had slept the night of the nth].
About I o’clock dressed myself and then walked to
New College where I met with Crowe, Webber, who
has the Living the Adderbury late Blackstones, Eaton,
Coker Senr. and King. I dmed, supped and spent
the evenmg with them at New CoU. They were the
only Fellows now in College and all Seniors. I saw
the Chapel and Garden before dinner. In the West
Window of New Coll. Chapel are three most beautiful
emblematical figures of Faith, Hope and Charity,

^ See specialty p. 154, Notes hy the First Lord of the Admiralty.

264

1779

painted on glass. They were done by one Jervase of
London, and only put up in the Chapel the last week.
No Painting can exceed them I think on glass. The
whole of that great West Window is to be painted
by him. The design is of Sir Joshua Reynolds’s
I could not go to St. Mary Church either morn’ or
aft I called and spoke with Locke this evening, my
late Silversmith and he looks very well, he lives where
he used to do.

Sep. 13. I breakfasted and slept again at the Blue Boar.
Before breakfast I took a long walk on the Botley
Road, having a violent pain in my stomach, otving
I beheve to eating too many waUnutts yesterday at
Coll: On my walk called at a House and had a dram
pd. o. o. 2. After breakfast I took another walk but
longer over Port Meadow, called at 2 Houses and had
some Rum and Water at each, being in great pain,
pd. o o. 6 , going over the Ferry at Binsey gave
o. o 2. I dined, supped and spent the evening at
New College with Webber, Crowe, Coker Senr,
Eaton and King. Coker, and King looked rather
cool on me I thought. It was after ii this evening
before I got to my Inn Dr. Wall I hear is marned
and hves m St. Giles in Oxford, I had no opportunity
of seeing him. Webber’s Fellowship is vacant today
or tomorrow. The High Street in Oxford is exceed-
ing handsome, being lately paved. Magdalen Bridge
also fimshed. The Upper Room of New CoU.
Library also finished.

On September 13 they proceeded by the usual route
to Weston, which they reached on September 17th

Sep. 18. I breakfasted, dined, supped and slept again

265

1779

at home. Soon after breakfast my Friend Mr. Hall
called on me and dined and spent the afternoon with
me. Poor Mr. Hall was very uneasy concerning an
aflEair that happened at Walton about 3 weeks ago,
wheie he was insulted m public Company by one
Nelthorpe and endeavouring to come at him to lick
him had greatly hurt his leg between a door and its
hntel. Mr. Hall could not get at him or else would
have licked him' handsomely, I wish that he had done
It. I gave him for dinner some rost Beef and an
Apple Pudding. I sent Will- this morn’ to Mr.
Custance’s at Ringland and Mr. Du Quesne’s at
Tuddenham to enquire after them.

Sep. 23. ... Mr. Howes called on me about dmner
time and stayed and dined with me and spent the
afternoon. Mr. Howes made so free with my strong
Beer that he got himself quite drunk, tho’ I pressed
him not to make too free. I sent my man Ben home
with him

Sep. 25. I breakfasted, dined, supped and slept again
at home. Mr. Priest of Reepham and son St. John
made me a morning visit as they came from Du
Quesne’s. Mem: On Monday morn’ last about
II o’clock I pulled of the head of a large Flesh Fly,
and the Body had hfe in it and stood upon his legs,
and at different times moved his legs, and so con-
tinued till Thursday last, and then fell down. . . .

Sep. 30. ... I let my man Ben have my httle Mare to
go to Norwich this mormng to try to get a Substitute
to serve for him in the Mblitia as he is drawn. . . .
I paid Mr. Du Quesne for serving my Church for
me in my absence, 15 Sundays at 10/6 7. 17. 6. . . .
My man Ben Legate returned home in the evening
from Norwich, havmg got a Substitute and seen him

266

1779

sworn in immediately, as well as accepted. He was
obliged to give the Substitute 9. 9. o. I gave him,
in part of it, this evemng i. i. o.

Oct. 2. ... As I was out in my Garden this morning
in my Ermine old Hat and Wigg, Beard long and
a dirty shirt on, who should wait by at the end of
the garden but my Squire and Mr Beauchamp with
him, Mrs. Custance’s Brother. They walked into my
Garden and went over it, they liked it exceedingly.
They would not walk into my House. . . .

Oct. 9 . Had a letter this evening from my Sister

Pounsett in which she tells me that Sister Clarke and
Sam, and Nancy Woodforde are coming to Weston
and were to set of from Ansford on last Wednesday,
to stay three or fo’ur days in London and then of for
Weston. Two boxes with their cloaths were already
sent

Oct. 12 . . About 8 this evening my Sister Clarke,

Nancy Woodforde and my Nephew Sami Clarke
arrived at Norwich [where the Diarist was meeting
them] in the London Machine from the West greatly
fatigued by being up all last night. They drank
some tea immediately and soon decamped to bed —
they slept at the King’s Head.

Oct. 21. . . Mr and Mrs. Kerr sent over to us this
morning to desire that we would dine with them, we
sent word back that we could not having no carriage
to go there, he then sent back word that he would
send his one Horse Chair after the Ladies — ^which we
could not refuse complying with, — therefore at about
I o’clock Sister Clarke and Nancy went in the Chair
and myself walked to Mr. Kerr’s, and there dined,
spent the aft: supped and spent the evening, with
Mr. and Mrs. Kerr, Mr. Bodham of Mattishall. We

267

1779

had for dinner a Leg of Pork boiled, a Turkey rested
and a couple of Ducks We had for Supper a couple
of Fowls boiled, a fine Pheasant rested and some cold
things. Dinner and Supper served up in China,
Dishes and Plates. Melons, Apples and Pears, Wal-
nuts and small Nutts for a desert. We played at
Quadrille after tea, at which I won o. o. 6 My
Servants Will and Ben went out a coursing this
morn’ by my order and did not return till after we
were gone. They coursed a brace of Hares but killed
never a one. We returned as we went and got home
about II o’clock. Mr. Kerr would make me accept
of a Hare also. To Mr. Kerr’s servants gave o. i 6.
Sister Clarke gave the Servants o. 3. o. We spent
a very agreeable day indeed at Mr. Kerr’s.

Oct. 23. . . Had a letter this evening from BiU Wood-
forde from on board the Fortune Sloop of War, and
now at Spithead performing Quarantine, being lately
arrived from the Barbary Coast, had been out about
2 months. He informs me that he had suffered many
hardships, and he seems to be tired of the Sea already.
He now sincerely repents of his late behaviour at my
House at Weston, and of his not taking my advice to
him. He also tells me that he has bought some
curious things for me and desires me to accept of
them — one of them is a large Moorish sword — also
a cunous^Purse with some pieces of money in it. . . .

Between October 26th and 30th the Diarist, Sister
Clarke, Sam Clarke, and Nancy Woodforde enjoyed the
now familiar ‘ Scheme ’ to Yarmouth, the* Diarist’s
guests being ‘ highly dehghted with the sea, having
never seen it before’. They were away — spending a
night or two at Norwich, four nights in all ‘we got

268

1779

home to Weston about 3 o’clock and there we dined,
supped and slept at the old House. We all seemed very-
glad of our getting home.’

Oct: 31. ... I read Prayers and Preached this morning
at Weston. My Squire and Lady were not at Church
being from home. Sister Clarke and Nancy had
a httle MifiE today.

Nov. I. ... Sister Clarke and Nancy had a high quarrel
this morning. . . . Stephen Andrews gave me a grey-
hound Bitch this morning by name Fly. To 5
Chickens this morning pd. o. 2 6. To Chambers of
Lyng for a Pr of Breeches paid i. o. o
Nov. 13 ... Had a letter this evemng from Mr.

Kingston, Bursar of New College, -with a Draught in
it on Hoare the Banker for the sum of 73. 10. lif
being a Present from that Society for the Loss
I sustained the first of January, owing to the high
Wind, concermng my Chancel — ^very handsome in-
deed was It of them. . .

Nov. 18. . At 3 o’clock myself and nephew took
a ride to the Hon. Charles Townshend’s at Honing-
ham where we dined and spent the afternoon — by
invitation Just as we got to Mr. Townshend’s,
Mr. du Quesne overtook us and went with us there
and dined etc etc. A Mr. Hill and son from Wells
a rich Merchant and o-wner of the Standard Inn at
Wells where Mr. Hall and self slept at Wells, kept
by one Smith — ^He -with another Wells Merchant
by name Spiingle a very droll, sensible man and who
has travelled much abroad, also dined and spent the
afternoon wnth us. Mrs. Townshend was dressed in
a scarlet tiding dress, her head dressed very high and
^ See foot-note, p. 21 1.

269

1779

ao cap at all on. We had for dinner a loin of Mutton
rested, rost Beef, a-boiled Chicken, Soup, Pudding
etc. first course. A Turkey rested, a rested Hare,
Mushrooms, Tarts, Maccaroni and a Custard Pudding
etc. Neither Turkey nor Hare above half done.
I never made a worse dinner I think. We dined at
4 drank tea at 7 or after. At 9 we returned home,
left the other Company there. Madeira and Port
Wine etc. to drink after dinner. I gave nothing to
the servants at Mr. Townshend’s. Mr. Townshend
is going next week for London.

Nov. 30. ... This being my Frolic, I had about 20
Farmers that dined with me and paid me their several
Compositions. Reed, this day from them 229. 8. 6.
To John Pegg for Taxes for f a year pd 9. 4. 6. . . .
I gave them for dinner a fine Rump of Beef boiled,
4 fowls boiled and Bacon, a fine neck of Pork rosted
and quantities of plum puddmgs. Sister Clarke and
Nancy dined by themselves in the Study. Wine,
Punch and Beer as much as they would. There was
drank 3 Bottles of Wine, of Rum 5 Bottles. . . . They
all went away about ii o’clock. . . . We did not get
to Bed till I in the morning.

Decern. 2. ... To a Letter from Bill Woodforde pd
o o. 7. Bill Woodforde is now on board the Ariadne
Frigate of 32 [guns] and now at Sheerness. The
Captam (whose name is Squire) is exceeding civil to
him. Bill sent me in a Box a present of a sword —
pd. for the carriage of — 0. i. 2.

Decern. 4. ... This evening by Mr. Cary came Bill’s
present to me, viz: a large Moorish sword and a
curious Moor’s purse made of Morocco leather with
some coins in it. He also sent me two cunous shells
and a quill that came from FalHands Island. It is

270

WILLIAM WOODFORDE

By Samuel Woodforde, R A.

(The Dianst^s nephew is here depicted as a Lt Colonel in command of the
Western Battalion of the East Somerset Rifle Volunteer Infantry in 1805 )

1779

some gratitude in him I must confess — ^but he expects
something in return as he complains in his letter to
me of being very low in pocket. • .

Dec. i8. ... In the Norwich Paper this evening I saw
my name put down to preach a Charity Sermon at
St. Stephens, Norwich, the i6th of April next. . . .

Dec. 25. I breakfasted, dined, supped and slept again
at home. Sister Clarke, Nancy and Sam breakfasted
etc. here again. Bitter cold indeed all day and froze
within doors. Js. Smith, my Clerk, Richd Bates,
Tom Cary, Tom Carr, Richd. Buck, Thos. Dicker,
and Tom Cushion all dined at my House today being
Christmas Day and I gave them for dinner a Surloin
of Beef rosted and plumb Puddings, and to each of
them to carry home to their Wives — ^gave is/o —
o. 7. o. I read Prayers, Preached and chnstened
2 Children of Palmers (by name John and Sarah) this
afternoon at Weston — ^had but a small Congregation.
Neither my Squire or Lady at Church today.

Anno Domini 1780

Jan. 1st. ... Had a Letter this evening from my
Brother Heighes in which he informed me that he
had lately reed, a letter from Ld. Guildford ^ con-
cermng his Son William, who lately waited on Ld
Guildford in Person as a Midshipman — and his Lord-
ship desired to know his name and age. We were
pleased with ft. . . .

Jan. 5. ... My Maid, Nanny Lihstone left my service
this morning having had proper notice before given
her

I paid her a Qrs wages due now o. 10. o. To her
also for a Qrs allowance for tea — o. 2. 6. I gave to

^ See foot-note, p, 245
271

1780

her also a free gift of o. 2. 6. I had no other fault
to find with her, but that she did not chuse to be
under the other Maid. In every other respect
a very good Servant I believe. Betty Greaves a girl
of about 15 came to my House in the room of Nanny
LiUistone. She is a neat girl and I hope will do —
tho she is small

Jan. 15. ... Reed, a Letter this evening from Sister
Pounsett in which she tells me that poor Mrs. Joany
Russ of Dimmer is dead. She was a good Woman
and I hope now happy. Reed, also a Letter from Bill
Woodforde on board the Ariadne Sloop now of the
Yarmouth Roads. He teUs me that his Ship had been
in great danger striking on the Sands near Yarmouth
It was also on the Norwich News Paper — ^but got of
again. He also tells me that he has not a single
farthing in his Pocket and desires me to send him
some Cash.

Jan. 18. ... This being our gracious Queen Charlotte’s
Birth Day I fired my Blunderbuss with 3 Charges of
Powder in it and a good deal of Paper — and gave
3 Cheers . . .

Jan. 28. ... I breakfasted, supped and slept again at
home. Sister Clarke, Nancy and Sam breakfasted etc.
here again. I went to Church this mormng a httle
before 12 and publicHy presented Mr Custance’s
child in the Church Sir Edmund Bacon and Lady,
and Mr. Press Custance assisted as Sponsors. Mr.
Custance was also at Church with the others. After
the ceremony Mr. Custance came up to me and
presented me with a Norwich Bank Note of five
Guineas, wrapped up in some writing Paper. He
asked me to dine with the Company at Ringland at
2 o’clock, therefore I walked by myself there and

272

1780

dined and spent the afternoon and stayed till after
7 in the evening and then walked back home. The
Company present were Sir Edmund Bacon and Lady,
Mr. and Mrs. Custance and Mr. Press Custance.
Coming away gave George the servant o. 2. 6. We
had for dinner a Calf’s Head, boiled Fowl and Tongue,
a Saddle of Mutton rested on the Side Table, and
a fine Swan rested with Currant Jelly Sauce for the
first Course. The second Course a couple of Wild
Fowl called Dun Fowls, Larks, Blamange, Tarts etc.
etc. and a good Desert of Fruit after amongst which
was a Damson Cheese. I never eat a bit of a Swan
before, and I think it good eating with sweet sauce.
The Swan was killed 3 weeks before it was eat and
yet not the lest bad taste in it.

Jan. 31st. . .A very comical dull day with us all.

Sister Clarke very low. In the evening Sam spoke in
favour of the Methodists rather too much I think.
We did not play Cards this evening as usual

Feb. 4. ... This being a Day [it was a Friday] for
a general Fast to be observed thro’ the Kingdom, to
beg of Almighty God his Assistance in our present
troubles being at open rupture with America, France
and Spain, and a Blessing on our Fleets and Armies ;
I therefore went to Weston Church about ii o’clock
and read the proper Prayers on the Occasion, but
there was no Sermon preached. My Squire and Lady
at Church, and there was a very respectable Con-
gregation that attended at it. Most of my Family
went and Sister Clarke and 3 Servants. We did not
dine till 4 o’clock this afternoon. Sent a long Letter
to my Sister Pounsett this evening. Sister Clarke,
Nancy, Sam, and myself, all took it in our heads to
take a good dose of Rhubarb go ing to bed.

m

1780

Feb. 8. ... We were rather comical this evening as
we did not play Cards on account of Sam who dis-
liked it.

Feb. II. ... Sister Clarke and Nancy had a few words
at breakfast. My Sister cant bear to hear anyone
praised more than herself in any thing, but that she
does the best of all.

Feb. 14. ... To 60 Children being Valentines Day at
id each o. 5. o. We were all comical with Sister
Clarke today agst her. Nancy and self played at
Cribbage I won of her 0. o. 9.

Feb. 17. ... [The Diarist takes tickets for the Play
for himself and his Guests at Norwich.] About 4 my
Sister Clarke, Nancy and Sam came in Mr. Du
Quesne’s Chaise to the King’s Head and a httle
after them came Mr Du Quesne and Mr. HaU to
the same place — and we all drank Coffee and Tea
together and then we aU went to the Play. Sister
Clarke and Nancy and Sam went in a Coach which
I hired. The Play was Hamlet and the Entertain-
ment the Camp. The Play was very well, but the
other like a Puppet Show, fit only for Children.
I treated Mr. Du Quesne and Mr. Hall with a Ticket.
Mr. Priest and his Brother of Reepham came to the
Theatre to us, and they returned with us to our Inn,
and there we all supped and spent an agreeable
evening together. For the Hire of the Coach pd
and gave o. 3. 6. We had for Supper a couple of
rost Fowls, a Barrel of Colchester Oysters, some cold
Meat and Tarts. It was after one o’clock before we
got to bed. Mr. Du Quesne and Mr. HaU slept at
the K; Head. Mr. Pnest and Brother went home.
Both the Mr Pries, ts offered faintly to pay their part
of the reckoning this evening, but I told them there

274

1780

was no occasion for it — ^which at once they acquiesced
in. They did not press it again. Gave Mr. Du
Quesne’s Man Stephen to go to the Play by my
Servant Man Will o i. o.

Mar. 8. I breakfasted, dined, supped and slept again
at home. Sister Clarke breakfasted, etc here again,
as did Nancy and Sam. We were very quere after
dinner today, having but a plain dinner, viz. some
hash Mutton, a plain sewet Pudding and a couple of
Rabbits rosted. Sam made me rather angry at
dinner when I asked Sister Clarke if she would have
the outside of the Pudding or the first cut of it, upon
which Sam said I hope you will not Madam, for you
know that I always give the outside to the Dogs. . .

Mar 12. . . : My Maid’s Brother came to our House
this morn’ to inform his Sister that their Father was
dead ; he breakfasted and dined here. My Maid
Betty Carton Betty was very low all day upon the
account, pray God comfort them all under so great
a loss. . . .

Mar. 14. ... I let my Maid Betty Carton have my
Great Horse to go to the Funeral of her Father.
Ben went with her. She returned with Ben in the
evening. . . .

Mar. 26. ... I went to Brand this morning for Mi.
Bodham and there read Prayers and administered the
H. Sacrament for him, as he served Mr. Hall’s Church
at Garveston. Brand is about 7 miles from my
House and very difficult road to find — ^had a very
small Congregation there, not above 20 People and
not more than 7 People at the H. Sacrament. When
I returned from Brand I eat a bit of cold Mutton,
pulled of my Boots and went to Weston Church at
half past 2 and read Prayers and Preached, gave notice

275 T 2

1780

of a Sacrament on Sunday next and read four Briefs
also. Mr. Custance and Lady at Church and after
Church they asked my Sister etc to dine with them
on Tuesday next and that they would send their
Carriage after them. TTiey apologised in not asking
them before to dine. I had a large Congregation at
Church this afternoon. Sister Clarke, Nancy and
Sam went to Church. Being Easter Day I had
a Loin of Veal rested. Sister Clarke was very ill in
the Cholic after dinner. We did not dine till 4 o’clock
this afternoon.

Mar. a8. ... We all dined and spent the afternoon at
Mr. Custance’s of Ringland today and were hand-
somely entertained. Mr. Custance sent' his Coach
and four after my Sister and Nancy with a Servant
to ride by the Coach besides. There were two
drivers to the Coach. My Sister, Nancy and Sam'
went in the Coach and returned on her. My Man
Will went with me. Just as I was going out of my
gate to go there I met Mr. Du Quesne on horseback
who was going to dine with us and he and I rode
together there. We returned to Weston after tea
and got home abt. 8. We had for diimer for the
first course some fine Soup, a rested Pike, a saddle of
Mutton rosted, some Veal CoUops etc. The second
course, some Eggs, a rost Fowl, Orange Pudding,
Custards, Jellies etc. Madeira, Port and Calcavella
Wines to dnnk. Oranges and Apples by way of
desert. Mr. and Mrs. Custance, Mr. Du Quesne
and ourselves all the Company. We did not give
any vails to Servants. Sam talked rather strange to
me before breakfast today — ^that I did not behave
well to him yesterday. Poor Sam cant take a Joke.
I forgot what I said to disoblige him.

276

1780

Mar. 30. ... Mr. Du Quesne sent his Chaise after my
Sister, Nancy and Sam this mormng to go and see
Mr. Townshend’s House at Homngham. Mr. Du
Qhesne and self rode on horseback. We got to
Honingham about ii o’clock, saw the House, and
then went round by Sir Wm. Jernegan’s at Copsely
and so home. We made quite a pleasant jant of it.
The weather at first was a little stormy but at last
it turned out fair and fine. Mr. Townshend’s House
most superbly furmshed — Stately Rooms and very
grand Furniture. Mr. Du Quesne returned with us
to dinner and stayed with us till about 9 in the
evemng. I gave him for dinner a bit of boiled Beef
and a Turkey rosted. At QuadriUe this evening lost
o. o. 6.

Apnl 2. . Sam lost his Purse this afternoon in which
was a Gmnea and some silver, supposed to be lost
within doors but could no where be found today.

April 3. ... No Tidings of Sam’s Purse or Money at
all today, but my Servants are suspected, as Sam says
he is certain that he dropped it in my Kitchin —
I cannot think they are guilty.

April 4. ... A Guinea and one of the Rings of Sam’s
Purse were found by my httle Maid Betty this morn-
ing among the ashes in the Kitchen grate. Sam in
takmg out his Handkerchief out of his Coat pocket
(where he alivays kept his Purse) must take the Purse
out with it, and standmg by the Fire, might fall into
the Fire. Both Guinea and Ring quite black. My
Servants were very glad the above was found as they
were very uneasy on being suspected. . . .

April 6. ... I sent Justice Buxton this morning a

Baskett of my fine Beefans, a very fine kmH of
Apples. . . .

277

1780

April 9. ... I read Prayers and Preached this afternoon
at Weston. Mr. Press Custance’s Laiy at Weston,
she sent before Church to me for Leave to sit in my
seat, which I granted. My Sister did not go to
Church, as I desired her not, on account of the above
Lady sitting in my seat today. . Mr. and Mrs. Kerr
at Weston Church and in my seat in the Chancel.

April 15. ... Sister Clarke made me rather angry this
morning about the 50 Pound that I have of hers.
She wants to have it now, but I told her that she
could not have it till the Estate that I bought with
the money was sold again, that of Speeds. I told
her that I would let her have five guineas to carry
her home but no more. . .

April 16. . . [The Diarist is at Norwich to preach

a Charity Sermon.] At 3 o’clock this afternoon
I walked with Mr. Francis Senr to St. Stephens
Church and there heard the Revd. Mr. Carrington
lead Prayers, and as soon as Prayers were over I
walked out of my seat into the Vestry and stayed
there till the Psalm was near sung and then I walked
out and went up into the Pulpit a Man walking
before me with a Wand, and preached a Chanty
Sermon, towards the rehef of the Charity Schools in
the City of Norwich. Many of the Children attended
at the Church. The Church was very fully crowded
by rich and Poor. The Mayor was present being
Treasurer of the Charity. I had some conversation
with the Mayor in the Vestry Room and enquired
for his Brother the Bishop of Rochester, Dr. Thurlow
— ^late of Magdalene Coll, in Oxford and who has
dined with me at New College. I gave towards the
Chanty — o. 10. 6. There was collected at Church
for the Charity 7. 13. of. .

278

1780

April 17. ... About 5 o’clock my Sister and Sam went
of in Lenewade Chaise for Norwich, to take Coach
for London this night. I sent my Man Will with
them to Norwich Will returned about 10 at night
and informed us that they got safe to Norwich, but
could not go from thence till to-morrow night, the
Coach being full. I lent my Sister towards bearing
her expenses — 5 5. o. I gave Sam my little book
of Mapps — ^Atlas Mimmus. . . . We were all very low
at parting with each other, poor Nancy very low
indeed. I gave to Nancy this evening o. 5. o. . . .
My Head Maid slept with Nancy and is so to do.

April 18. ... Mr. Du Quesne sent his Chaise here

today about i o’clock to carry us to the Rotation,
and about half past one we both got into it and went
to his House and there we dined, spent the after-
noon and part of the evening with him, Mr. and
Mrs. Howes, Mr. and Mrs Dawson, httle Miss
Roupe, a Captam Lodington, and Mr. Bodham. We
were very merry till just at last, when Mr. Howes
behaved strangely, that is Mrs. Howes had invited all
the Company to dinner on Thursday next and all
settled, but just as Mr Howes was going away, he
desired to be excused from having Company at his
House to dinner on the above day, but should be
glad to see them at Tea It made all the Company
stare again. . . . Nancy and myself got home about
10 in Mr. Du Quesne’s Chaise, but was rather afraid
as the driver was merry, but he drove us very well
and very safe. . . . Captam Lodington is a cheerful
little man and not above 20 years of age if so much.
He was on board the Monmouth when last engaged
by the French. He has seen a good deal of service
abroad in the E. Indies, has been in the

279

service

1780

of my Squire’s, thence to the old Bridge at Lenewade,
then close to the River till we came near Morton,
then by Mr. Le Gnsse’s Clumps, then by Bakers
and so back till we came to the place where we first
set of. Mr. Custance Senr then called the six follow-
ing old men (that is) Richd. Bates, Thos. Cary, Thos
Dicker, Richd Buck, Thos Cushion and Thos Carr,
and gave each of them half a guinea — ^To George
Wharton, who carried a Hook and marked the Trees,
my Squire gave also five shilhngs. To Robin Hubbard
also who carried a Spade he gave 5 shilhngs, and sent
all the rest of the People to the Hart to eat and
drink as much as they would at his expense. The
Squire behaved most generously on the occasion.
He asked me to go home and dine with him but
I begged to be excused being tired, as I walked most
of the way. Our Bounds are supposed to be about
12 miles round We were going of them full five
hours. We set of at 10 m the morning and got back
a little after 3 in the afternoon. Nancy was got to
dinner when I returned. Ben, Will and Jack all went
the Bounds. Ben’s Father Wm Legate in crossing
the River on horseback was thrown of and was over
head and ears in the River My Squire’s man John
was likely to have had a very bad accident in leading
the Squire’s horse over a boggy place, both horses
were stuck fast up to their Bellies, and by plungmg
threw him of in the mire and was very near being
hurt by the horses plunging to get out, but by great
and providential means escaped free from any mis-
chief. The horses also were not injured at all. The
man had his new suit of Livery on and new hat,
which were made very dirty. Where there were no
Trees to mark, Holes were made and Stones cast in.

281

1780

May 9. ... To a man (whose name was Pedralio an
ItaUan, and who is the Manager of the Fire Works
at Bunns Gardens at Norwich) and who makes
Thermometers and Barometers and carries them
about the country, called at my House this morning
with some of them and I bought one of each for
which I paid him i 16. o.

May 13. . . Had a letter this evemng from my Sister

Pounsett inclosed in a Frank of Ben Allen’s — ^in which
she informed me that my Aunt Jane of Bath was dead
and had left all that she had to her Maid Betty. A
great disappointment to my Uncle Tom and Family.
However, pray God she may be for ever happy.

May 17. ... I did not go to bed till after 12 at night,
as I expected Richd. Andrews the honest Smuggler
with some Gm.

May 21. ... Nancy had a new Pr of Stays brought
home this morn’ by one Mottram a Staymaker at
Norwich. She paid him for the same i ii. 6. For
his journey from Norwich to measure her she pd.
2. 6. I read Prayers, Preached and christened a child
by name George this afternoon at Weston Church.
My Squire and Lady, Mr. and Mrs. Carr, Mr. Press
Custance’s Mistress and some other genteel Strangers
at Church this afternoon Mr. Hardy and Wife
dined with our Folks in Kitchen.

May 27. ... To Richd. Andrews [smuggler] for 2 Tubbs
of Ginn pd. 2. 10. 0. . . . Had another letter from
Bill Woodforde on board the Ariadne. He has been
in an engagement but not hurt. Mr. Cary [Carrier]
forgot my Wiggs from Norwich this evening . . .
Mr. Du Quesne’s name mentioned on Chase’s Nor-
wich Paper today, to succeed to a Prebendary of
Ely in the room of Dr. Harvey, lately deceased.

282

1780

June 3. . • Had a very long Letter this evening from
my Sister Clarke and a very civil one. I wished she
had sent it before, especially as I have sent a Letter
to my Sister Pounsett wherein I upbraided Mrs.
Clarke for not writing. . .

June 5 . Mr. Mann’s Boy who was taking care of

some Horses in a Field, where there was a large Clay
Pitt full of water, by accident fell in and was drowned
and found about Noon Time quite dead. He was
a Child of one Spincks by the Church — a sad mis-
fortune indeed, but hope the poor Lad is much
happier than if he had stayed longer here. Mr. Mann
very uneasy.

June 9. . About 2 o’clock who should make his

appearance at my House but Nancy’s Brother William,
who IS a Midshipman aboard the Ariadne of 20 Guns.
He came from Yarmouth on horseback this morning.
He wore his Umform, and he dined, supped and
slept at my House. Nancy was very happy to see
him indeed.

June 10 . . Great Riots have been in London this week.

These were the Gordon Riots, an outburst of uncon-
trolled mob violence fomented by the maniacal Lord
George Gordon, son of the Duke of Gordon, against the
Roman Catholics They were the sequel to the measure ^
recently promoted by Sir George Savile which aimed at
mitigating some of the acerbities of the existing anti-
Cathohc statutes, the sequel in the sense that the fanatical
spirit of rehgious persecution was aroused thereby. The
house of Lord Mansfield, the Lord Chief Justice, who

^ A measure supported in the House of Lords by that singularly
magnanimous statesman, Lord Shelburne. See Lord Fitzmaunce’s
ShelbuTtu, vol u, pp. 41-2 (1912 ediuon).

283

1780

was supposed to be sympathetic to the Catholics, was
burned with its pnceless library, and he himself narrowly
escaped destruction. ‘ Wednesday night will be remem-
bered by all the present inhabitants of London and
Westminster to their latest hour for the horrors and
calamities with which it abounded. . . . The King’s
Bench, Marshalsea and Fleet Prisons, the dwelling-house,
shop, and distillery of a Roman Catholic in Holborn, the
house of another in Great Queen Street, and of a third
in the Poultry — all these and more furnished a sight
from my observatory, particularly that of the distillery,
which surpassed the appearance of Mount Vesuvius in
all its fury.’ So wrote Dr. Charles Burney to the Rev T.
Twining on Sunday, June i ith.^ Readers of the Memoirs
of William Hickey will remember his descnption (vol. li,
pp. 265-6) of the scene of desolation in London follow-
ing the riots. The outbreak was, of course, purely
a fanatical mob aflfair, and decent Protestant opimon was
greatly shocked. Of such was the Rev. T. Twining, who
replying, in July 1780, to Dr. Burney, brilliantly observes :
‘ As to toleration, we are children yet ; the very word
proves it , religious hberty can never be upon its right
footing while that word exists. Tolerate ! — ^it is a word
of insult Suppose a man should say to you when you
were commending Pachierotti [a famous musician], “ Sir,
your opmion is very diflEerent from nune, but, however,
I shall put up with it.” ’

June II. ... Bill breakfasted, dined and drank Tea this
afternoon and about 5 o’clock this evening he went
for Yarmouth to go on board the Ariadne — Nancy
very low at parting. I made Bill a Present this after-
noon of 5. 5. o.

^ Tmmng Correspondence, pp. 80-4 (John Murray, 1882).

284

1780

June 13. . . I dined and spent the afternoon at Mr

Du Quesne’s being his Rotation, with him, Mr. Howes
and Mr. Bodham. We had for dinner a Leg of
Mutton boiled and Capers, three nice Spring Chicken
rosted and a Piggs Face and a Pudding. ... I returned
home about 9 o’clock and who should I see but
Nancy’s Brother returned from Yarmouth his Ship
being sailed but will return e’er long. . . .

June 16. ... Bill painted our Coat of Arms today on
the front of the Temple [just erected] in my
garden. . .

June 17. . Bill breakfasted and spent the morning

at Weston and about i o’clock set of for Yarmouth.
He had my little [Mare] to ride some of the way
and my Servt Will went with him on the great
Horse. Will did not return till near ii at night.
I began to be very uneasy on his not returning —
but he told me that there was no Coach set out for
' Yarmouth all this day for Norwich and therefore he
went with Bill as far as Accle ii miles beyond Nor-
wich. A confirmation of the news of yesterday on
the Papers — and the disturbances in London quite
over. Charles Town [in Carolina] taken and 8,000 of
the Rebels killed and taken.^

June 18. ... I read Prayers and Preached this after-
noon at Weston. My Squire and Lady at Church
and a Brother of hers. Press Custance’s Woman at
Church and in my Seat also.

June 19. . . My Squire called on me this morn’ and

talked to me a good deal about his Brother’s Mistress

^ This success and subsequent victories by Lord Cornwallis roused
hopes which were shattered on October 19, 1781, by the surrender of
Yorktown, into which Cornwallis had been hemmed by Washington and
the French

285

1780

sitting in my Seat yesterday and whether she had
leave, and also that she strutted by them in a very
impudent manner coming out o£ Church — and stared
at Mrs. Custance.

June 20. ... At i past 12 I took a rid.e to Norwich
and Will with me ; got to Norwich about 2 Got of
my Mare just within the Gates and called at a Pubhc
House and had some Porter pd o. 2. Gave Will to
go to Quantrells Gardens this evening o. i. o. I
walked thro’ St. Giles’s Street, and it being the Guild
Day for swearing in the New Mayor (one Day) and
who lives in St. Giles’s, the Street was full of People
and a number of Flaggs hanging out of the Windows.
The Market Place also was full of People and quite
down to St. Andrew’s Hall where they all dined.
I saw the Procession from St. Andrew’s Hall up to
the old Guild HaU in Coaches and all full dressed,
and a very great appearance they made — a band of
Musick before, and the Musicians dressed in Gowns.
Bells ringing etc. etc. After that I walked about the
City by myself till near 5 in the afternoon, and in
my walk saw Quantrells Gardens. At 5 drank tea at
the King’s Head. After that went to Mr. BucHes,
there stayed and talked with him and Mr. Sterling
till near 6 o’clock — ^from thence walked to Quantrells
Gardens by myself, heard a sad Concert and saw the
Fireworks which were very good and worth seeing —
gave on going — 0. i*. o. For which you have 6d
worth of anything at the Bar. I supped and spent
the evemng there and stayed till 12 o’clock. For my
Supper and Liquor pd o. i. 6 A very heavy Storm
fell about 9 o’clock. A prodigious number of common
girls there and dressed. TTie Fire Works began
about II o’clock and lasted about an hour. In it,

286

1780

a representation o£ the Engagement between the
English and French Fleet under Sir George Rodney.^
About 12 I came away, called at a House on the
Road, spent o. i. 6. I was very much tired by walk-
ing so much today, was upon the Foot almost from
2 to 12 at night. I returned to the King’s Head
about I o’clock, had some Rum and Water and went
to bed. My Squire and Lady at the Mayor’s Feast
and at the Assembly in the evening, and they went
home after. Near 400 People at Dinner with the
Mayor and some of the first Fashion — 300 dishes for
dinner Dainties of all sorts there besides 3 Bucks
June 23. . After breakfast this morning I sent my

Maid Betty to Mr Press Custance’s Mistress (Miss
Sharman) to desire her not to make use of my Seat
in the Chancel any more, as some Reflections had
been thrown on me for giving her Leave. I hkewise
sent Will to Mr. Kerr’s on the same account as I was
willing to make it general Miss Sharman sent word
back by Betty that she was much obliged to me for
the use she had already made of it, and did not take
it at all amiss in me, she knew from whence it came —
and that she would get a new Seat made Mr. Kerr
sent me word that he was not the least angry with
me, and he expected it. About 2 took a ride to

^ These fireworks seem to have been in celebration of the engagements
between Admiral Rodney (1719-92) and the French Fleet off the West
Indies m April and May 1780. The actions were, in fact, quite meffective,
the French Fleet on each occasion escapmg More successful was Rodney’s
attack on and seizure of the wealthy Dutch Island of St Eustatius early
m 1781 But Rodney’s fame is, of course, based on the wonderful victory
over De Grasse on April iz, 1782, off the West Indies, a victory which
enabled the Government to enter on peace negotiations, after an other-
wise disastrous war, on much more favourable terms (See D N.B.
under Rodney )

287

1780

Ringland and dined and spent the afternoon with my
Squire — ^his wife, Lady Bacon, and a Mr Prideaux,
grandson of the famous and learned Dr Prideaux
who wrote the Connections.^ . . Mrs. Custance

asked for Nancy but Mr. Custance said nothing at
all about her — ^which I think not right.

June 24. ... Mr. Kerr called on me this morning and
talked to me about my sending to him yesterday, but
not the lest angry with me. He told me he thought
it would make a breach between the two Custances.
My Squire sent his Brother a note before I sent. . . .
To old Joe Adcock’s Wife, Her Husband being ill
o. I. o.

June 25. . . I read Prayers and Preached this morning
at Weston. My Squire and Lady at Church, but
both went out of Church much sooner than they used
to do. Nobody in my Seat.

July 13. ... Mr. Du Quesne’s Man Robert brought
me some Cherries this afternoon, I suppose by his
Master’s orders. Mr. Du Quesne set off yesterday
morn’ with Mr. Townshend for Scotland alias North
Britain. Mrs. Townshend also with them. Cousin
Js. Lewis same to my House this evening on foot and
only a dog with him by name Juno — and he supped
and slept at my House, — ^he came" here about 8
o’clock. . .

July 15. ... Had a Letter this evening from my Sister
Pounsett in which she mentions that our Brother
^ Humplirey Prideaux, D D (1648-1724), Dean of Norwich from 1702
was a considerable Oriental scholar. His chief works were his Ltfe of
Mahomet, 1697, and his Connectton (1716-18) — ^which dealt with the
interval between the Old and New Testaments, a book frequently re-
pnnted and translated into French and German. His letters were edited
for the Camden Society by Sir E Maunde Thompson in 1875 (See
D.N.B)

288

1780

John had a fall lately from his Horse at Evercreech
and put out his shoulder bone, being a little merry.
I hope it will be of service to him as it is a Miracle
almost that he never hurt himself before. . . .

July 21. ... I heard nothing from Justice Brainthwaite
(alias Gobble) today about fishing yesterday. [The
Diarist had had leave to fish below Attlebridge from
one Michael Andrews, and the Justice’s estates only
came up to the river on one side : from his nicJcname
— Gobble — ^he must have been an unpleasant fellow.
E[e had seen the Diarist fishing and said he would
‘ send to ’ him ]

July 24. ... The Press Gang ^ from Norwich came to
Weston last night and carried of a man from Oddnam
Green about 9 o’clock.

Aug. 3. . . Mr. Thomas of Dereham (Brother of the

Bishop of Rochester), a Mr. Paley (who is to be
ordained deacon on Sunday next and is to be Curate
to Mr. Thomas Michaelmas next at Dereham), and
Mr. Hall, dined, and spent the afternoon with us
and stayed with us till after 7 in the evening. I gave
them for dinner some Fish, a Piece of boiled Beef,
Beans and Bacon, a Couple of Ducks rosted and some
Apple Tarts. We spent the afternoon in the Temple.

Aug. II. ... My great Horse much worse this morning
[he had been taken ill the day before, and dosed with
Gin and Beer] was walked up to Reeves again and
Ben with him. The Dr. gave Ben a draught for him
to take, but the poor horse was so [lU] on his return,
that we could not give it him, and about 10 o’clock
this morning died. I endeavoured to bleed him
a little before and sent Will to Gould of Attlebridge
to come and see him, but he was dead long before he

^ See p. 9
289

u

1780

came. Gould said that he died of a Fever in the
Bowels — and that he should have been bled, had
a Cl7?ter and some cooling Physic also. Am very
sorry for him as he was so good natured a Beast.
Don’t intend to employ Reeves any more as a Farrier.
I could not have thought he would have died so
soon. The death of my poor good natured Horse
(by name Jack) made me very uneasy all the day
long. Ben and Will skinned him, we kept one half
of him and we gave the other half to Mr. Press
Custance. Whatever the skin fetches is to be divided
between Will and Ben and Jack.

Aug. 12. ... Fretting and vexing about my Horse

made me much out of order to-day — quite low

Aug. 21. . . Cousin Lewis breakfasted here and about
9 o’clock took his leave of us and set of on Foot for
Nottinghamshire I gave him going away i. ii. 6
I gave him besides a Coat and Waistcoat, 3 Pair of
Breeches, a Pair of Stockings and a Pr of new Shoes
since he has been with us. . .

Aug. 26 ... Bad news on the Papers — 60 Sail of East

and West India Ships taken by the French and
Spanish Fleets.

Sep. 8. . . Mr. Howes sent his Chaise after my Niece
to go and dine at Hockering, I rode my Mare there.
We dined and spent the afternoon at Mr Howes’s
with him, his Wife, Mrs Davy and daughter Betsy,
Charles and Turner Roupe, Mr Paine and Wife
with a long chin, Mr. Donne and his new married
Lady, and Mr. and Mrs. Hewitt of Mattishall at
whose House Mr and Mrs. Donne are at. Mrs.
Donne is an agreeable Lady, but rather deaf We
had for dinner a Leg of Mutton boiled and Capers,
a Couple of Fowls boiled and a Tongue, a couple of

290

1780

Ducks rested, some Blamange and Tarts. At Quad-
rille this afternoon — ^won — o. o. 6. Turner Roupe
is in the Militia and appeared in Regimentals. We
returned to Weston about 9 o’clock Charles Roupe
accompanied Nancy back in the Chaise. I was on
my Mare and caught in a little storm on the Road.
Gave Tye the Driver of the Chaise o. 2. o. Gave
to a Boy that went behind the Chaise o o. 6 Great
bustle at Norwich on account of the Dissolution of
Parliament — ^great Opposition expected. The Elec-
tion is to be for the City on Monday next.

Sep. II. . . This day the Election began for the City
of Norwich N.B. Candidates for Norwich Mr.
Bacon [see p. 233 foot-note], Sir Harbord Harbord,
Mr. Wyndham, and Mr. Thurlow.

Sep. 12. . Sir Harbord Harbord and Mr. Bacon re-

chosen for Norwich.

Sep. 19. . . My Man Will Coleman had a Citation

from the Ecclesiastical Court to appear there the
3 of October in a cause respecting defamation ^ of
one Ann Lillystone, who lived with me last year,
and is now with child by a Servant Man of John
Bowles — by name Robt Woodcock Will was in a
Peck of troubles about it, tho’ nothing Nancy and
myself dined and spent the afternoon at Mr. Cus-
tance’s of Ringland with him and his Lady — ^We
spent a very agreeable day there. . . . Mrs. Custance
came after Nancy in a Coach and four — in which
also I went and we returned in the same about 7.
To the Coachman and Postilion and an Outrider —
gave o. 3. o.

Sep. 22. ... My Squire called on me this morning to
desire me to come over in the afternoon and privately
^ See remarks on pp 6^70.

291 u a

1780

name his new born son. I married one John Wont
and Rose Branton this morning by License at Weston
Church — a. compelled marriage. N.B. am owed by
Mr. Mann the Church Warden for marrying them,
as I could not change a Guinea — o. lo. 6. I took
a ride in the afternoon to Mr. Custance’s of Ringland
and privately named his child by name Edward.
I stayed and drank a dish of Coffee with the Squire
and one Mr. Martineau of Norwich, a Doctor and
Man Midwife.^ Reed, a printed Letter from the
Bishop to send him an account of the Roman Catho-
licks in my Parish — ^but I don’t know of one in it.

Sep. 23. ... Had another Letter from my Sister

Pounsett this evening to inform me that my Niece
Sophy Clarke, and my Nephew Robt White were set
of together to be married. Js. and Richd Clarke,
Frank Woodforde and his Wife were all confounded
angry about it — as they think Robt too much of the
Clown. Their Pride is hurt much — ^for my part
I think it a good Match on both sides and if they
marry I wish them happy — they are both good
natured.

Sep. 28. [The Diarist and Will ride to Norwich]. . . .

^ Doubtless an ancestor — ^possibly grandfather, certainly a busman of
the famous mneteenth-century Martmeaus, Harriet and her brother
James The Martmeaus were of Huguenot origin, Gaston Martineau of
Dieppe setthng as a surgeon in Norwich after the revocation of the Edict
of Nantes In the biography of James Martineau by James Drummond
and C B Upton (1902), it is stated (pp 2-3) . ‘ The profession of this
founder of the English branch of the Martmeaus became to some extent
hereditary In the records of the French Church at Norwich we twice
meet with the name of David Martineau entered as that of an eminent
surgeon Phihp Meadows Martineau, the uncle of James, was also dis-
tmgmshed , and within the family in Magdalen Street the eldest son
devoted himself to the ancestral calling ’

292

1780

Went to Mr. Morphews Office to talk with him
about my Servant Will being cited into Court, but
he was not at home.

Sep. 29. ... After breakfast walked again to Mr.

Morphews but he was not come home — I talked with
his Clerks. From thence went to Mr Uttens of the
Cathedral and employed him as a Proctor for my
Servant. Gave him a retaimng Fee of o. 5. o . . .
[We hear no more of the case, and may presume that
Will was exculpated from the charge of defaming
Ann LiUystone ]

Oct. 13. . . Mr. Cary’s daughter (the Widow Pratt)

is we hear with child by her Servant that lived with
her last year, but she pretends to say that she was
ravished one night coming from her Father’s by a man
whom she does not know.

Oct. 15 ... Wdl came home drunk this evening after

Supper from Barnard Bunnell’s at Morton and he
and my head Maid had words and got to fighting.
Will behaved very saucy and impudent and very bold
in his talk to me. Shall give it to him to-morrow
for the same. . . .

Oct. 16. . . I gave Will a Lecture this mormng con-
cermng last mght’s work.

Oct. 24. ... My Squire Mr. Custance called on me
this morning and spent the best part of an hour with
me. He talked with me about his new Tenants,
Galland and Howlett, concerning Tithe, but spoke
very open and ingenuous about it, and left it entirely
to me respecting the same. Mrs. Davie came to us
this morning and dined and spent the afternoon with
us. . . . Mrs. Davie slipped of the Horse as she was
getting up to go home ; she did not hurt herself —

I laughed much.

293

1780

Nov. 12. . . I read Prayers and Preached this morning
at Weston Neither my Squire nor Lady at Church
this morning. As I was returnmg from Church this
morning Mr. Press Custance overtook me and
acquainted me that Mr. Custance had lost his last
[i. e. latest] Child this morning — ^it had been ill some
time. I walked with Mr. Press Custance back to
Church and fixed on a Place in the Church where the
Child is to be buried. We heard this morning by
Mr. Press Custance, that many people were robbed
yesterday between Norwich and Mattishall by two
Highwaymen. They are both known and were very
near being taken — One of them is a Nephew of one
Parferoy (a gardner at Ringland) and his name is
Huson. My Man Ben knows him very well. These
two Fellows slept at Ben’s Father’s on Friday Night
and were m the Parish of Weston most of the day
yesterday Nancy was much alarmed on hearing the
above. It was lucky that I did not go to Norwich
last week.

Nov. 13. ... About II o’clock this morning took a ride
to Norwich and my Servant Will” Coleman went
with me. I carried with me upwards of 150 Pound
m Bills and Cash, and got to Norwich very safe with
the same. Went to Mr. Kerrison’s Bank and there
reed, a Bank Note of 150 Pd which I immediately
inclosed in a Letter and sent it by the Post to Dr.
Bathurst of Christ Church, and which I hope will
get safe to him there. [This was tithe the Diarist
had collected for his friend, Dr. Bathurst, the non-
resident Parson of the neighbouring parish of
Witchingham.] Kerrison the Banker asked me

to dine with him but cd not. ... At 4 o’clock
this afternoon I set of for Weston, and got

294

.afe and well thank God about 6 in the

lurst’s name is mentioned frequently in the
an outline of his hfe may help the reader,
ury Bathurst (1744-1837), nephew of the first
rst, and from 1805 Bishop of Norwich He
)iarist’s contemporary and friend both at
and at New College. As a Bishop he was
leing in politics a Liberal — considered, indeed
; ‘ the only Liberal bishop ’ in the House of
as a warm supporter of Catholic emancipation,
son, Henry, was also in the Church, and was
-presumably by his father — ^Archdeacon of
1 1814. The Diarist did not live to see his
nade Bishop of Norwich, otherwise he himself
i been promoted for his faithful services in
ithes for the non-resident Rector of Witch-
Between 1775 and 1805 Dr. Bathurst was
3 hrist Church, Oxford. The author of the
le Dictionary of National Biography says that
urst’s love of hterature was great, and his
tinct just ’. There is a fine statue of him in
athedral.

. . . Went to Church this morning at 1 1 o’clock
re buried Mr. Custance’s son Edward — aged
i and 3 days. The Corpse was brought in
a and four attended by two Servant maids
deep mourning and long black Hoods. Mr.
Instance was the Chief Mourner, none of
elations attended besides Neither Mr. nor
iistance there. The Coffin was Lead with a
Breast-Plate on it and on that was engraved
295

1780

the Age and Name of the Child. The breast-Plate
was plain and made thus 0. The Child was buried
in the Church in the North Aile. The Coach came
up close to the Church door. The Drivers and other
Servants had hatbands and gloves I had also a fine
black silk Hatband tied with white Love-Ribband and
a pair of white Gloves. After the Funeral Mr. Press
Custance gave me a Bit of White Paper sealed up
with Mr. Custance’s Arms on it and in which there
were — 5. 5. o Only a clean white Napkin covered
the Lead Coflfin. Very rough with much snow this
morning and very cold.

Nov. 18- . . Had a Letter this evening from my Sister
Pounsett, who mformed us that the late Mr Guppey
had left Mr. Pounsett whole and sole Executor — that
Mrs. Pounsett of Cole had 30 Pound per Annum for
her life — that Mr Guppey’s Maid, Sybbyl, had ten
Pounds in cash and a httle House and garden left her
by Mr. Guppey also. Reed also a Letter from Bill
Woodforde from Sheerness who tells us that he is*
going to leave the Ariadne, the Captam whose name
is Squire and him not agreemg and that he intends
to try again for a Lieutenancy of Mannes. Am
afraid he will not turn out well in the end, as he is
so unsteady. I doubt not but that he has given
Captain Squire just cause to be angry with him.
Robt White and Sophia Clarke [who eloped] my
Sister tells us are married, were married in Devon-
shire.

Nov. 21. ... The two Highwaymen that lately infested
these Roads were taken at Swaffam last night or this
morning.

Nov. 25.' ... I took my men. Will, Ben and Jack out
a coursing this mormng after breakfast, and coursed

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1780

till 3 in the afternoon, caught a brace of Hares and
a Rabitt. . . .

Decern. 2. ... Had Edmonds on Complete Body of
Heraldry, 2 large Folio volumes in boards brought
home tins evening by Mr. Cary, and which I bespoke
some time ago, being desired by Bathurst to accept
of some books a great while ago, and therefore fixed
on the above.^

On December 5 the Diarist has his annual tithe-
frolic, with the usual excellent hospitality for the farmers
who attended it : ‘ Mr. Press Custance neither came or
sent to me which I think very ungenteel, after my send-
ing so civil a note . . .’

Decern. 7. . . Paid Mr. Thos. Palmer for Malt for
a year — 22 o. o To a travelling Pedlar for Moore’s
Almanack pd o. o. 8. To ditto for the Ladies Pocket
Book o. I. o. Mr. Palmer brought me a very large
Hare, but very old one I believe it be, however it
was kind of him.

Decern. 9. ... Reed a letter from Edmund Lewis son
of Cousin Js. Lewis to let us know that his Father,
the above Coz. Js. Lewis was dead, that he died the
24 of September last, owing he said to laying in a Pair
of damp sheets on his return from my house, home-
ward. I had a letter from Cousin Js. Lewis soon after
he got home, which mentions nothing of his catch-
ing the least cold, and it was wrote in good spirits
by him. Edm*^ also mentions in his letter that his

^ This book IS now in the possession of Dr R E H Woodforde (see
prefatory note), and contains a charming Latin inscription refemng to
their (W.’s and B ’s) early fnendship from Wmchester days See also
P 29s

297

1780

Father shd say that he had left some shirts behind
him here, but poor man, he never brought any but
what he had on his back when he came here. I am
very sorry for him, hope that God will pardon his
past Errors and that he is now happy. It is strange
that his son should not acquaint us of his death long
before. His sending now was only to beg Charity of
me and hope I would be kind to the Family.

Dec. 15. ... Nancy and myself being rather out of
spints and iU last night, took a dose of Rhubarb each
last night and this morning we were both brave.
Mr. HaU dined and spent the afternoon with us. He
also dined here the day that I went to Norwich,
with Nancy — ^Nancy was not well pleased with him,
and about leaving a dog here behind him, which
however he did not, as Nancy was against it. I gave
him for dmner some Fish and a Shoulder of Mutton
rosted — ^he left us about 4 o’clock Mrs. Davie called
here this aft. in Mr. Howes’s Chaise with her daughter
Retsy, who is just returned from School and is to
spend a few days with Nancy, therefore Mrs. Davie
left her with us. . . Betsy slept with my Niece
Nancy Woodforde.

Dec. 16. ... Nancy had a letter from her Brother Will
this evening wherdn he mentions that all matters
between him and his Captain are made up — dated
from Sheerness. Little Betsie Davie cned a good
deal this evening after Supper, but about what
I know not. She is of a very meek Spirit, poor httle
maid

Dec. 20 ... Mrs. Davie came on foot to our House

this morning just after we had breakfasted, and she
stayed and dmed and spent the afternoon and part
of the evening with us till 7 o’clock, and then went

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1780

home on horseback behind Mr. Howes’s Servant who
came after her. It was very dark when Mrs. Davie
went away. . . . Little Betsie Davie complaining of an
Head-Ache this morning, I gave her a little Rhubarb
this evemng which she took exceeding well and I hope
will do her good. Betsie Davie is a very good, sensible
Child, talks hke a Woman, tho but lo years of age.

Dec. 21. . . To poor People of this Parish being

St. Thomas’s Day gave each of them 6 d against
Christmas Gave in the whole today — ^44 in number
I. 2. o. My Squire gave them a shilling apiece. . . .

Decern. 25. ... I read Prayers and administered the
Holy Sacrament this morning at Weston, being
Christmas Day. My Squire and Lady both at
Church and at the Sacrament. This being Christmas
Day, the following old poor men dined at my House,
and I gave each of them a shilling to carry home to
their vdves — Richard Bates, Richard Buck, Thos.
Dicker, Thos. Cary, Thos. Cushion, Thos. Carr,
and my Clerk Js Smith — ^in all gave them o. 7. 0.
I had a prodigious fine surloin of Beef rosted ivith
quantities of plumb-Puddings We also began on
Mince Pies today at dinner.

Dec. 30. ... Nancy had her new Cotton Gown brought
home this evening from Norwich by Mr. Cary and
I think very handsome, trimmed with green Ribband
— a Cotton of my Choise.

Dec. 31. ... This being the last day of the year we
sat up till after 12 o’clock, then drank a Happy New
Year to all our Friends and went to bed. We were
very merry indeed after Supper till 12. Nancy and
Betsie Davie locked me into the great Parlour, and
both fell on me and pulled my Wigg almost to Pieces.
— I paid them for it however.

299

1781

1781. Jan. 9* • • • Mr. Hall breakfasted and spent the
morning with us — and about noon he eat a bit of
cold Beef and then went of for Dereham. — ^This
being the Assembly night at Dereham and the first
this winter there. Mr. Hall is a Subscriber to the
Dereham Assembly Dereham Assembly is monthly
and only 4 Assemblies. . . .

Jan. II. ... This day heard the news that Jersey was
taken by the French and retaken by the Islanders
afterwards — ^between 4 and 6000 French landed there,
but were all destroyed or taken Prisoners by us. It
IS too good news to be true I am afraid the whole
of it is. Country News very bad, hearing of nothing
but Highwaymen and breaking houses open at Nor-
wich Trade at Norwich never worse — ^Poor no
Employment.

Jan. 13. ... Mrs. Dade was robbed this evening coming
from Norwich near the 3 Mile Stone and had 2 guineas
taken from her by a single Footpad.

Jan. 14. ... Gave Betsy Davie this evemng a fine

bright shilling. Betsy was sent for on horseback this
afternoon but I would not let her go as she is not
well.

Jan. 16. ... Betsy Davie very bad indeed today, was
obliged to be brought down stairs about noon, but
could not sit up long being m such violent Pain in
her right knee and left Foot, somethmg hke the Gout.
The Pain was so great towards the Evemng that she
cried incessantly. Betty [the Maid] sat up with her
all night as she waa so ill. It alarmed me much and
the more so, as we had sent in the morning to her
Mama, to let her know that she was better, which she
was till she was had up. Nancy and myself sat up
m the Study all the mght long as she was so ill, and

300

1781

we thought her very dangerously so. We amused
ourselves most of the night by playing Cribbage. We
played 12 Rubbers at 6d per Rubber at which I won
o. I. o but had lost to her before 1/6, so that it
reduced my loss to o o 6 [Next day Betsy’s Mama
and Dr, Thorne are sent for, physic admimstered, etc.,
and in a few days Betsy is better.]

Jan. 21. ... I read Prayers and Preached this morning
at Weston. Neither My Squire or Lady at Church,
but a small Congreg: Mrs. Davie, Nancy and Betsy
gave me a good trimming this evening,

Jan. 24 ... I was sadly used this evening by Mrs.

Davie, Nancy and Betsy, had my money picked out
of my Pocket of o. ii. 6.

Jan 26. ... The 11/6 that was taken out of my Pocket
the other Night Mrs. Davie is to lay out on an Apion
for Nancy by my Consent. We had for dinner today
some Beef Stakes and Mutton Stakes, a couple of
Fowls rosted and Mince Pies,

Jan. 27. ... Nancy had a Letter from- her Father and
another from her Brother Will. Her Father informs
that his son Sam was at Mr. Hoare’s and is taken
great notice of by Mr. Hoare for his ingenuity in
Paintmg etc.^

Mrs. Davie sent me some Brawn and Oysters by
Mr. Cary and likewise a Silk Bonnett for my Maid
Betty. . . .

Jan. 30. ... Was very ill this morning, being much
disturbed and had very little rest during last night,
Mr. and Mrs. Howes, Mrs. Davie, and Mr. Hall
dined and spent the afternoon with us. Mrs. Davie
stayed and supped and slept here. I gave them for
dinner a knuckle of Veal and a Tongue, a prodigious
^ See p. 208 for a notice of Samuel Woodforde, R A.

' 301

1781

fine Cock Turkey rested (and which weighed when
alive 20 Pound) and a Currant Pudding. .

Feb, 3. ... Had but an indifferent night of Sleep,
Mrs. Davie and Nancy made me up an Apple Pye
Bed last mght. . . .

Feb. 12. ... We did not go to bed till after 12 this
night, the Wind being still very high. We were as
merry as we could be, I took of Mrs. Davie’s Garter
tonight and kept it I gave her my Pair of Garters
and I am to have her other tomorrow. . . .

Next day Mrs. Davie, who had been staying at the
Rectory on and off since January 30, went to Parson
Howes’s of Hockering, taking Betsy with her, who had
been at the hospitable Diarist’s since December 15th.

Feb. 17. . . Mr, Howes made us a morning visit and

brought Nancy a Pr of Tongs to pinch her Hair
with, from Mrs. Davy, as a Present to her
Feb. 18. I read Prayers and Preached, read a Pro-
clamation for a Fast on Wednesday next and churched
Forster’s wife this morning at Weston Church. My
Squire at Church but not his Lady Received for
churching Forster’s Wife — o. i. o
Feb. 19. ... I christened two Children, Twinns, this
morning privately at my House by names, Anne and
Susannah. They are two Spurious Children of one
Anne LiUistone late a Servant Maid of mine. . . .
Feb 21. . . This being the Day for a general Fast to

be observed dunng our present Troubles, I went to
Church this morning and read Prayers, but did not

preach. I had a large Congregation that attended

Feb. 22. ... I was very stingy this mormng alias in
a bad humour and made Nancy' uneasy by my t alkin g.

302

1781

About 10 this morning took a ride to Mr. Town-
shend’s Clumps, there met Du Quesne hy appoint-
ment, and went acoursing. . . We coursed till 2 o’clock,
had a number of courses, saw at least I2 brace of
Hares, and killed only i Hare. My Bitch Dutchess
went with me, and she had not begun coursing before
she was caught in a Rabbitt Gin, by one of her fore-
feet. She did not perform at all well after, being
very shy and her foot painful. I went home with
Du Quesne and dined and spent the afternoon with
him and Mr. Hall. . . . We had for dinner, some
Brawn, boiled Pork and Peas, and a Hare rosted, but
spoiled by being over done.

March 3. . . Will went on my httle Mare to Du

Quesne’s this morning with my Greyhound, Dutchess,
acoursing, I could not go. I sent by Will, to Mr.
Townshend’s Gamekeeper Jack o. i. o. They killed
2 brace. Mr Du Quesne sent me back an Hare.
Will returned time enough to wait at dinner. . . .

March 14. . In the afternoon I took a ride to Nor-

wich, Will went with me within a mile of Norwich,
and then I got of and sent my mare back by Will
to Weston. I supped and slept at the King’s Head.
Put a letter to Dr Bathurst into the post this even-
ing and in it two Bills of 10 Pound each. Great and
good news brought from London this evening an
account of the Enghsh having taken St. Eustatia and
St. Martins two of the Caribbee Islands in the West
Indies, from the Dutch, with 270 sail of Ships.^

Mar. 15. I breakfasted, dined, supped and slept again
at the King’s Head. Mr. Hall came to Norwich
about 12 o’clock to the King’s Head and we dined
etc. together there. We had some fresh Salmon for
^ See foot-note, p 287

303

1781

dinner today. Great rejoicings in the City all day,
St. Peter’s Bells ringing all day. The City Cannon
5 in number were fired three times. The light
Horse also were drawn up in the Market Place about
12 o’clock and fired three vollies. Illuminations at
night over the City with large Bonfires. After
dinner Mr. Hall sent his Compts to a Captain Cole-
man of the Marines and that he would come and drink
a glass of Wine with us which [he did] and likewise
went to the Play with us and after supped, and spent
the evening with us till 2 in the morn. We went to
the Theatre after the 5 Act of the Play which was
the Plain Dealer. The entertainment which was,
Harlequin Touchstone, was highly diverting. The
Play etc. was over about lo o’clock. We did not sup
till after ii at night. At the Theatre paid half
price, o. 1.6. To other trifling expenses this evening
pd o. 3. 6. The market place was full of People this
evening and very noisy. Fireworks etc. playing off.

Mar. 16. I breakfasted and spent the morning at
Norwich. Mr. Hall and Captain Coleman break-
fasted with me. After breakfast I took a walk to
Priests and tasted some Wine and ordered a Qr of
a Pipe, -with 3 gallons of Rum and 3 gallons of the
best Holland Geneva. To 2 ivory Shuttles for
Nancy of Baker, pd o. i. o. To 7 pieces of Wood,
a Puzzle thing, pd o. o 6. About i o’clock Mr. Hall
and myself left Norwich and he went home to
Weston with me and dined and spent the afternoon
with us and then went for Dereham. At the King’s
Head for my part of the Bill pd. o. 13. o. For Horses
at the King’s Head, pd. o. 3. o. To servants at the
King’s Head, gave, o. 5. o. Mr. Hall nor myself
would not suffer the Captain any part of the Bill to

304

1781

be paid hy him We had for dinner a Leg of Mutton
rosted only. To a poor Man of Easton who lately
lost an Horse and who came to my House this after-
noon, gave o 2. 6. Mr. Hall being with me gave
him the same. Mrs. Davie still at my House and
dined and slept here again. Quite tired and fatigued
this evening.

Mar. 19. ... Sent by my Maid Betty to one Tooley,
whose Family has^got the Small Pox and is very poor,

o. 2 6. . . .

Mar 20 . About 12 o’clock I took a nde to Dereham

and Will went with me Got there about 2 o’clock,
put up my Horses at the King’s Arms kept by one
Girling and therd I supped and slept, had a very
good Bed. Soon after I got to Dereham I walked to
Mr. Hall’s Rooms, he lodges at a Barbers by name
Field, and there I dined and spent the afternoon
with him by appointment. We had for dinner a fine
Lobster hot and some Mutton Stakes, had from the
King’s Arms. Before dinner Mr Hall and myself
took a Walk about Dereham, went and saw a whim-
sical Building called Quebec. We dined at 3 o’clock
and after we had smoked a Pipe etc , we took a ride
to the House of Industry about 2 miles West of
Dereham, and a very large building at present tho’
there wants another Wing. About 380 Poor in it
now, but they don’t look either healthy or cheerful,
a great Number die there, 27 have died since Christ-
mas last. We returned from thence to the King’s
Arms and then we supped and spent the evening
together. To Mr. Hall’s Clerk of Garvaston who
came to give him notice of a Burial on Friday, being
very poor, gave, o. i. o.

Mar. 21. I breakfasted with Mr Hall at his lodgings.

305 X

1781

To a Barber for shaving me etc., gave, 006. After
breakfast we took a walk, called at Miss Gage’s
School and saw Betsy Davie, who cried on seeing
us. Miss Gage the Mistress never came to us tho’
at home which I think was very rude and impolite
in her. After that we took a long walk about the
Town About i o’clock Mr. Hall took a ride with
me to Weston and dined and spent the afternoon
with us. Mr. Hall’s Horse fell with him on Hocker-
ing Heath and threw him of, but luckily received no
hurt. . . .

Mar. 24. ... The four Highwaymen that infested these
roads last Winter, were all tried at the Assizes held
last week at Thetford, found guilty and all con-
demned. Since that they made an attempt to get
out of the Castle and very near completed an escape

Mar. 31. ... Had a letter from one Singlehurst of the
Town of Nottmgham petitioning for poor C. Lewis’s
Family, but am not able to assist them having so
many demands. . . .

April I. ... I read Prayers and preached this morning
at Weston. Neither my Squire or Lady at Church,
being from home Mr. Hardy and his Wife dined
with our Folks in Kitchen. Nancy and myself took
a walk this afternoon to Mr. Custance’s new Hall
stayed there an Hour and returned To one Bushell
for shewing us the House, gave, o. i. 0. Nancy
walked there and back very well, not very much tired
She walked up to the top Rooms tho’ the stair Case
has no Rail to it as yet, and looks dangerous to
go up,

April 7* ... Gave my servt Will leave to go to Norwich
this morning to see the three Highwaymen hung
there today. Will returned about 7 o’clock in the

306

1781

Evening. They were all three hung and appeared
penitent. . . The names of the Highwaymen were,
Wm Skipper, Michael Moore, and WiUm Fletcher.
Skipper was most abandoned but cried at the last.

April 14. ... I got up very ill this morning about

8 o’clock, having had none or very httle sleep all the
night, owing to the pain in my Ear which was much
worse in the night and broke, and a good deal of
blood only came away The pain continued still
very bad all the morning tho’ not quite so bad as
before. It made me very uneasy abt it. A throbbing
pain in my Ear continued till I went to bed I put
a rosted onion into my Ear going to bed tonight.

April 15. I breakfasted, dined, supped and slept again
at home Nancy breakfasted, dined, etc. here again.
I thank God I had a tolerable good night to sleep
and was much better this morning for it. I read
Prayers and admimstered the Holy Sacrament this
morning at Weston being Easter Day. Had a Loin
of Veal rosted for dinner as usual on Easter-day. My
Clerk and Js Hardy of Ringland dined with our
Folks. Continued brave tho’ low, thank God, all day.

April 22. ... I went to Brand this morning and read
Prayers and administered the H. Sacrament there for
Mr. Bodham. Brand is about 6 miles from my
House. There were only 6 Communicants, myself
one of them. I read Prayers and Preached this aft*
at Weston. Had a very large Congregation this
afternoon at Church. We did not dine till the
afternoon service was over.

April 23. ... Mr. Townshend’s gamekeeper Jack

brought me over this mormng a greyhound Puppy
by order of Mr. Toivnshend. I gave the Gamekeeper
for bringing it over o. 2. 6. . .

307 X 2

1781

May 2. I breakfasted and slept again at the King’s
head [he had gone to Norwich the day before]
About II this morning Mrs. Davy with my Niece
came to Norwich in Lenewade Chaise, and my
servant Will came with them on horseback. They
went to Mr. Priest’s where they are to sleep. After
breakfast I took a walk till l o’clock by myself. Called
on Manning and bespoke an Urn for Nancy. Also
a Copper Kitchen and a Copper Coal Scoup. At
Chase’s for Skipper’s Narrative pd o o. 6. At Scott’s
for a pair of riding gloves pd o. 2. 2. Called on my
Mercer, Mr. Smith, and bespoke a Coat, Waistcoat,
and Pr of Breeches, and a fishing Frock. To the
driver of Lenewade Chaise, gave o l. 6. To my
man Will, to go to the Play tomght gave o. l. o. At
2 o’clock went to Mr. Priest’s and there dined and
spent part of the afternoon with him, his Wife, and
Family, a Mrs. Heigh of Tuddenham, Mrs. Davie
and Nancy. We had for dinner some Codfish and
Cockle Sauce, a foreqr. of Lamb, Tarts and Jellies.
After dinner called at Mr. Francis’s etc. Returned
to Tea at Mr. Priest’s. Mrs. Cooper drank tea
there. About 6 o’clock Mr. Priest, his son John and
myself took a walk to the Theatre. Mrs. Davie and
Nancy went in a Hackney Coach thither For the
Coach I pd o. i. o. We all sat in one of the Front
Boxes The Theatre was pretty full and the Play
was the Royal Suppliants — A new Tragedy for the
Benefit of Mr. and Mrs Holland. The Entertain-
ment Harlequin Touchstone Between the Play and
Entertainment an Interlude called Buxom Joan or
the Farmer’s journey to London. They collected at
the Theatre for this night fifty two Pounds. I treated
Mrs. Davie, Nancy and John Priest with Tickets.

308

1781

For four tickets I paid o. 12. o. After the Play etc.
the Ladies etc returned to Mr. Priest’s. I went to
my Inn, had some Rum and Water and went to bed.

May 4 ... We [Mrs Davie is again staying at the

Rectory] were very merry this morning with Nancy,
making her beheve that she took a bad half Guinea
at Norwich and which I took of her again, but gave
her only 9/6. I soon after sent it to Cary’s and got
10/6 for It which greatly heightened our Mirth. She
had the i /o after

May 10 . . Mrs Howes came after Nancy about

I o’clock in her Chaise to carry her to Hockering to
dinner. I rode my Mare thither, and there we dined
and spent the afternoon with Mr. and Mrs. Howes,
Mrs. Davy, Mr. Dawson and Wife, Mr and Mrs.
Paine of Shipdam and Mr. du Quesne. Mr. Dawson
IS a Clergyman and has a Living, but his Tenets are
Presbyterian. He married Mr Howes’s eldest daugh-
ter, hves at Wingfield.

May 16. . . Between 7 ^ind 8 o’clock this morning

went down to the River a fishing with my Nets.
Ben, Will, Jack, Harry Dunnell and WiUm Legate
(Ben’s Brother) were my Fishermen. We begun at
Lenewade Mill and fished down to Morton. And
we had the best day of Fishmg we ever had. We
caught at one draught only ten full Pails of Fish,
Pike, Trout and flat fish. The largest Fish we caught
was a Pike, which was a Yard long and weighed
upwards of thirteen pound after he was brought
home. We caught about 20 brace of Pike, but
threw back all the small ones — also we caught abt
15 brace of Trout, the largest not more than a Pound
and half — all the smallest we threw back — 3 brace
also of Perch — one tolerable Tench and I dare say

309

1781

near if not quite five hundred Brace of Roach and
Dace. Prodigious sport indeed we had today tho’
cold and wet. As we were fishing by Cophn’s, he
came out and ordered my men of from his land,
and behaved quite contrary to the opinion I had of
him. After talMng with him some httle time he
said I might fish, but then I would not, at which
he seemed rather uneasy. We eat some cold meat
which we carried about one o’clock and returned
home to dinner at 4. For Beer at Barnard Dunnells
of Morton, pd. o. i. o. Gave Beeston, Cantrell,
Palmer of Morton and Barnard Dunnell some Pike,
and most of the flat Fish to the Poor at Lenewade
and Morton and of my own Parish Harry Dunnell
and Will Legate dined etc. with our Folks. Paid
them also for their labour today o. 3. o. I was rather
fatigued this evemng by Fishing.

-May 17. ... Mr. Priest of Norwich came to my house
about I o’clock and he stayed and dined with us and
spent the afternoon and in the evemng returned to
Norwich. I was very glad to see him, as he and
wife behaved very civil to Nancy. Mr. and Mrs.
Howes, Mrs. Davie, and Mr. du Quesne dmed and
spent the afternoon with us also. I gave my Com-
pany for dinner my great Pike which was rested and
a Pudding in his Belly, some boiled Trout, Perch,
and Tench, Eel and Gudgeon fryed, a Neck of Mutton
boiled and a plain Pudding for Mrs Howes. All my
Company were quite astonished at the sight of the
great Pike on the table. Was obliged to lay him on
two of the largest dishes, and was laid on part of the
Kitchen Window shutters, covered with a cloth.
I never saw a nobler Fish at any table, it was very
well cooked, and tho’ so large was declared by all

310

1781

the Company to be prodigious fine eating, being so
moist. At Quadrille after tea, neither won or lost.
At about 9 they all left us. I put a large Pike into
the Boot of Mr. Howes’ Chaise before he went.

May 19. My man Ben went early this mormng to
Norwich with my white Cow and Calf to sell, he
leturned about 3 this afternoon having sold them
and pd me for them 5. 5. o. I gave him out of it
o. 2. 6

May 21. ... A Mr. Smyth, an Attorney (and who was
with me the first time of my coming to Weston to
settle some mattjsrs between Mrs Ridley and myself)
called on me this evening for a copy of the Register,
concerning his Son’s age who is now at New College
and Fellow there His Son is going to take Orders
soon. I never saw his Son. He stayed with me
about half an Hour, and then walked to Peachman’s
where he is to sleep, being his Tenant.

May 22. ... At one o’clock took a ride to Mr. Bod-
ham’s at Mattishall, and there dined and spent the
afternoon with him, Mrs. Bodham, old Mr Downe
and Wife of Dereham and their grand-daughter
a Miss Downe from London, a fine girl about 16.
A Mr. Gngson, a young Clergyman, Mr. and Mrs.
Howes, Mrs. Davy and Mr. du Quesne It was
Mattishall Gaunt today I was late to dinner.
Mr. Downe of Dereham came in a new contrived
machine with only two Wheels, and is drawn by one
Horse only.. It answers both the end of a Chair
and a Post Chaise , it has front and side Windows
when shut up, and when down and thrown back,
a chair. It is a very good Contrivance and cost him
40 guineas. Mr. Gngson appears to be a sensible,
good Young Man. We had for dinner a piece of

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boiled Beef, a foreqr. of Lamb rosted, a Pidgeon
Pye, Custards and Tarts At Quadrille this after-
noon, lost 0. 2. 6. To a little girl at Mr. Bodham’s
gave o. o. 6. As I went to Mr. Bodham’s, called at
East Tuddenham and saw the Church and the new
Altar Piece there. It is a very handsome one (but
put much too low). Mr. Howes’s man (Bird) and
my man (Wdl) kept us later than we intended to
stay, being gone to the Gaunt and not come back
till near 9 o’clock. I did not stay for my man but
went -with du Quesne when he did, about half past 8.
I went with du Quesne as far as Tpddenham and then
went home by myself — ^which I did not like. Will
came home about ii o’clock but I did not see him
tonight. I am very sorry that he behaves so, as the
last time we were at Mr. Bodham’s the same was
done and Mr. Howes’s man then (by name Tye) was
turned of.

May 23. ... I talked coolly and calmly to Will this
morning and told him that it would not be in my
Power to excuse him any more for such behaviour,
and that he would be cautious.

May 28. ... About 2 o’clock Mrs. Custance came in
her coach after Nancy to go with hei to Ringland to
dinner. Mrs. Custance wanted me to go in the
Coach also, but I preferred riding on Horseback.
We dined and spent the afternoon with them and
Mr. du Quesne. We had for dinner some Maccarel,
a Couple of Fowls boiled and a Tongue, a leg of
Mutton rosted for the First Course. Some Pidgeons
and Asparagus, Tartlets, Raspberry Cream, and Blanc-
mange with Currant Jelly. We spent a very agreeable
day at Ringland, we returned to Weston about 9 in
the evening. Mrs. Custance made my Niece a present

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of a very fine India Fan, another for Common Use,
but all the Fashion at London, a fine Tortoise-shell
Shuttle and also a pretty straw Baskett for to hold
work. Mrs Custance is very fond of Nancy and so
is she of her.

May 30. ... Nancy scarce eat any thing for dinner
today, I desired her not to eat too much, and there-
fore she would not eat after, neither would she eat
any supper.

June 3. ... I read prayers and admimstered the Holy
Sacrament this morning at Weston Church being
Whitsunday, l^t rained very heavy in the Night
a Thunder storm, with little Thunder or Lightning,
but much Rain All Nature seemed this mormng
greatly refreshed by the Ram, as it was so much
wanted Thanks be to the Lord for so blessed and
giacious a Rain. My Squire and Lady at Church
and at the H. Sacrament. Nancy also was at Church
and at the H. Sacrament by my desire, and was the
first time of her ever receiving it. My Clerk Js Smith
dined with our Folks today.

June 8. ... Mr. and Mrs. Custance and Mr. du Quesne
dined and spent the afternoon with us and stayed till
8 o’clock in the evening. Mr. and Mrs Custance
were dressed very neat. We put their Coach m my
Barn. I gave them for dinner, a Couple of Chicken
boiled and a Tongue, a Leg of Mutton boiled and
Capers and Batter Pudding for the first Course,
Second, a couple of Ducks rested and green Peas,
some Artichokes, Tarts and Blancmange. After
dinner, Almonds and Raisins, Oranges and Straw-
berries. Mountain and Port Wines. Peas and Straw-
bernes the first gathered this year by me. We spent
a veiy agreeable day, and all well pleased and merry.

313

June 10. ... I slept but very indifferent last night.
Very sickly time now, many very ill in Ague and
Fever. I read Prayers and Preached this afternoon
at Weston. I prayed for John Bowls at Church,
almost dead by drinking. Neither my Squire or
Lady at Church this afternoon.

-June ll. ... To a poor old soldier who sells Matches
by name Clem: Syms near 8o years old and who
broke his leg about Christmas last, gave this morning
o. o 6 He used to call on me about once in half
a year. He has a Pension from Government of abt
7 Pd a Year. . .

June 13. ... I went this morning and read Prayers
by John Bowles being ill and prayed for Sunday last
at Church. I found him in bed, but a great deal
better than I expected to find him, speaks very stiong,
eats very little, is blind, and has a Pain in his Stomach
all from drinking. To some poor children gave 002.

June 18. ... To one Cock of Booton and another man
also of the same place, who very lately had their
house burnt down and lost almost their all, gave,
o. 5 o. I gave Nancy to give to them also o 2. 6

- In the evemng took a ride to Norwich and supped
and slept at the King’s Head. I sent my Horses back
to Weston by my man Will.

June 20. . I called on Mr. Francis Senr this morning

and talked with him about the letter he sent me to
pay m the ,^100 to know whether he could get it for
me by the time, but he dechned very coolly. It
made me rather uneasy, and made me rather wish
I -had never borrowed it at all However, I hope
I shall manage it some way or other. I called on
Franas also last night, but Parrott of Saham being
there, did not talk of it ...

1781

June 24 Mrs Davy came after Nancy this evening
in Mrs, Howes’s Chaise by appointment, as Nancy is
to spend a few days with them at Hockering. Reed
a Letter this afternoon by my Squire’s Servant from
Mrs. Le Neve dated from Winsdor, to desire me, as
she intends visiting Oxford soon, to send her a Ime
or two to the Warden of New College by way of
introducmg her to him. Her Daughters are with
her and are to go with her Also for me to recom-
mend an Inn to her in Oxford. Was very dull and
low this evening and the more so, being quite alone.

June 26. ... Abojit 6 o’clock Mrs. Custance with her
two httle Boys and their Nurse came to my House,
and the young Gentlemen supped here, on bread and
milk They returned home to Weston about 9
o’clock

June 28. . . Mr. du Quesne asked me to dine with

him as he has a large Company at his House, but
would not ; however I promised to drmk Tea with
them. Mr du Quesne’s man Robert a very old
servant very ill, in the Fever that prevails so much
in Norfolk now. Very bad at Norwich. 53 were
buried last week there. I sent Will to wait at Table
at dinner at du Quesne’s. I dined at home by myself
on a Leg of Mutton rosted. , .

June 30. ... Nancy by being vdth Mrs. Davy had
- learnt some of her extravagant Notions, and talked
very high all day I talked with her against such
foohsh Notions which made her almost angry with
me, but when we went to bed we were very good
Friends and she was convinced.

'July I . ... Poor Robert England Mr. du Quesne’s old
servant died this afternoon in the Fever that rages so
much. He drove Mr, du Quesne’s Chaise to Norwich

3IS

1781

and back again with Mr. Priest and Wife in it, only
Wednesday last. Mr. du Quesne is sorely grieved
about him.

July 3. ... Mr. Baldwin called on me this morning,
but did not stay long, he walked into my garden,
I gave him some Artichokes to carry home to Mrs.
Baldwin. . . .

July 9. ... I took a nde this mormng to du Quesne’s,
found him very low, and sorely vexed for his poor
Man Robin. He was then just going of for London.
I was wet thro’ before I got to du Quesne’s. I am
really sorry to see du Quesne so yery much dejected.
From du Quesne’s rode on to Howes’s to let them
know that I should expect them at my Rotation
tomorrow. I saw only, Mr and Mrs. Howes. Mrs.
Davy at Norwich I returned to dinner by 3 o’clock.

July 13. ... Mackay, Gardner at Norwich, called here
this Even’, and he walked over my garden with me
and then went away. He told me how to preserve
my Fruit Trees etc. from being inj'ured for the future
by the ants, which was to wash them well with soap
sudds after our general washing, especially in the
Winter.

July 17. . . Mr Galland and Mr Howlett called on

me this evening to advise them what to do with one
Noiton who threatens to burn half the Parish, he
has burnt this afternoon all the Break upon the
Common that Mr. Howlett had cut to put under his
stacks. He is a sad Rogue I beheve. I advised them
to have a Warrant and secure him. He was therefore
this evening secured by the Constables.

July 18. ... Norton was had before a Justice this morn-
ing but he was done nothing to, as the Justice could
not have proof. .

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1781

July 24. I read a good deal of the History of England
today to Nancy whilst she was nettijig her Apron.
Very dry again. I feed my Geese with Cabbage now.

July 30. ... Nancy and myself get up every mormng
before 7 o’clock under the penalty of forfeiting
sixpence each day — Sundays only excepted.

Aug. 2 ... Mr. and Mrs. Custance got into their new

House for the first time to sleep there. But Mrs.
Custance was taken ill before she got there Supposed
to be in labour.

Aug. 6 . . Nancy took a walk this morning to Mr.

Custance’s new 4 iouse and there stayed and dined
and spent the afternoon there. I walked m the
afternoon there and drank Tea, and about 8 walked
back to our House with Nancy. Begun shearing
Wheat today. Harvest very forward Gave Mrs.
Davie a very genteel steel Cork Screw this afternoon.
Gave Nancy some Muslin to make a shawl.

Aug. 8. . About 2 o’clock a strange young Man

called at my House (shabbily dressed with one
shoulder higher than the other) to ask me leave to
set up a School in this Parish, said he came from
Yarmouth and was recommended he said by a
Mr. Gosling of Yarmouth to this Parish, brought
no Character with him, said also he was a Scotchman.
I told him that I thought it strange that he should
apply without any kind of Certificate, Character etc.
A suspicious Man I take him, and might belong to
a bad crew, but hope not.

Aug. 12. ... I read Prayers and preached this morning
at Weston. Mr. and Mrs. Custance both at Church,
and it being so hot they were afraid that they should
be obliged to go out of Church during the Service,
but did not. Poor John Bowles died this morning

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1781

friendly to us Mrs. Custance gave Nancy a Pearl
necklace and Pearl Chain to hang from the Necklace,
a Pr of Pearl Ear-nngs and another Pr of Ear-rings.
Mrs Custance is exceedingly kind to my Niece
indeed We returned home about 8 o’clock in the
evemng. After spending a very agreeable day.

Aug. 22. ... I took a ride to du Quesnes this morning,
stayed vnth him about an Hour, found him rathei
low still, and fretting himself about being so tyed by
the leg, in dancing backward and forward to Town-
shends with his great Company. The Archbishop of
Canterbury andJLady are there etc The Archbishop
and Lady go from Townshends Saturday next. Du
Quesne is then determined to visit his Neighbours,
tho’ Townshend be ever so much affronted at it. . . .

Aug. 25. . . Nancy had a letter this evening from her
father, in which he mentions the death of poor Tom
Syms by a Fall from a Horse Poor Fellow ! hope
he is much happier than he was here

Aug. 27. ... Nancy saw Sr Wm. Jernegan and a General
Jernegan a German at Mr. Custance’s. The General
is some relation of Sr William’s, lives in Germany,
a very good kind of Man.

Aug. 30. ... About 2 o’clock took a Walk to Mr. Cus-
tances and there dined and spent the afternoon with
him, Mrs. Custance, and Mr. Martineau (a man
Midwife from Norwich) a sensible young gentleman
and well behaved,^ and my Niece. We returned
home in Mr. Custances Coach and Mr. with Mrs.
Custance attended us in it — but they did not unhght.
I was very low and dull going to bed to-night and
could not go to sleep. We had for dinner to-day
a Couple of Fowls rosted, a piece of boiled Beef,
^ See p 292, foot-note

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1781

stewed Mutton, Fricasseed Rabbitts, a Currant Pud-
ding and Tarts. Mr, Rawlins (Mr. Custance’s
Architect) also dined with us to-day.

Sept. 9. ... I read Prayers and Preached this morning
at Weston. My Squire and Lady both at Church,
as was Nancy. As I was waiting to Church I met
Mr, Custance’s Coach and four about half way from
my House with Mr and Mrs Custance in it, coming
after Nancy to carry her to Church, but she was
gone to Church before. It was very kind of them
by so intending. Dunng my Sermon at Church
a poor Woman was taken in FitSj^'which disconcerted
the whole Congregation and made me conclude
sooner than I intended. They could not get her out
of Church. The Woman was old Richd Bates’ Wife,
an old Woman. One guineas worth of Bread was
given away this mormng to the Poor of Weston.
A Legacy of late Jn Bowles’s. A much greater
Number of poor People at Church this morning than
used to be owing to the above. Spraggs my Gardner
dined with our Folks to-day, he being at Weston
Church.

Sep. 18. ... At Noon took a walk to Mr. Custapce’s
and to my great surprise as well as satisfaction Mr.
Custance acquainted me that his Wife was brought
to bed this morning of another Boy and that they
were both extremely well. Mr. Custance desired me
to christen the Child which I did immediately and
by name William. He asked me to dine with them
but could not. I returned therefore home to dinner
and told Nancy of the good news of Mrs. Custance
being brought to bed, she was very glad to hear of it,
and that they were well. To Lizzy’s Mother Mrs.
Greaves for 6 TurHes this afternoon pd o. 9. o

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Sep. 19. . Weston Bells rung yesterday and again

to-day, on Mrs. Custance being brought to bed and
in the New House.

Sep. 22. I breakfasted, dined, supped and slept again
at home. Nancy breakfasted, dined etc. etc. here
again. To an old man of Reepham for 40 Oysters
pd o 2 6. Mrs. Davy and with her Alexander
Payne made us a morning visit, stayed with us about
an Hour and returned home. To my Butcher’s Man
Simonds for Pork at 3i pd o. 6. 6. Mr. Custance, my
Squire, made us also a visit this morning immediately
almost after Mrs. Davy left us, and he also stayed
with us an Hour. Mrs. Custance brave My Name,
I saw, inserted on the Norwich Paper this evening
as Preacher at the Generals next Monday at Aylsham,
the Archdeacon Dr. Berney The death of Mrs. Le
Neve mentioned on the Norwich Paper also, as
happening at London, and of a raging Fever. Pray
God she be happy and send Comfort O Lord to her
two disconsolate orphan Daughters.

Sep. 23 ... There was a grand Funeral at Ringland

to-day about noon. Poor Mrs. Le Neve brought
from London there.

Sep. 24. . . At 8 this mormng took a ride to Aylsham
about 10 miles from Weston, with my man Will.
Coleman , we got there about 10, put up my Horses
at the 3 black Boys and then sent for a Barber, dressed
myself in my Gown and Cassock and Scarf, being the
Archdeacon’s visitation to-day, and went about ii
o’clock to Church, where Mr. Taswell read Prayers,
and after Prayers I ascended the Pulpit and gave
them a Sermon. From Church we returned to the
3 Boys to dinner. The Clergy present were as
follows, the Revd. Mr. Greene who sat in the Chair

321 Y

1781

and represented the Arch-Deacon Dr. Berney, myself
next as Preacher, Mr. Taswell next as Reader, Mr.
Priest of Reepham, Mr. Whitmell, Mr. Browne,
Mr. Sandiford, Mr. Bryant, Mr. Leath, and Mr.
Juvel. Myself and Taswell were treated by the
Chairman. To a Barber at Aylsham, gave o. o. 9.
Mr. Morphew, Mr. Morse, Mr. Priest’s son, Richd
and a Mr. Robins dined with the Clergy at Aylsham.
It was almost unanimously agreed by the Clergy
that the Generals should be alternately at Aylsham
and Reepham, and desired Mr. Morphew to mention
It to the Arch Deacon. Lent servant Will at
Aylsham this morning o. 10. 6. We broke up at
about 4 o’clock, and then I mounted my Mare and
returned home to Weston about 6 The Church of
Aylsham is large and handsome and an organ at the
West End of it and which was played. We had for
dinner part of a Rump of Beef boiled, a Loin of Veal
rosted, 3 Fowls rested and an Ham with some plain
Puddings. It was a shabby dinner and overdone.
Plates, Knives and Forks very shabby indeed To
Mr. Morphew paid for Procurations and Pascals
o. 9. y-J-. I drank some spruce beer of Mr. Taswell’s
at dinner and liked it very well It was in Bottles.

Octob. 2. I breakfasted, dined supped and slept again
at home. Nancy breakfasted, dined etc. here again.
To an old poor Man, Thos. Wall, gave this morn
o. 0. 2. Ben caught a Hare in the Cover this morning
with ye dogs. Cut my Patagonian Cucumbers this
morning, the largest weighed 14 Pounds — the other
12 Pounds.

Octob. 4. ... Mr, Bourroughs of Morton called on me
this morning to let me know that Captain Le Grisse
had heard that I had earned from his Gravel Pit

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1781

a large Quantity of Gravel lately, and more than was
promised me, and that I would make some acknow-
ledgement for the same But I believe it is Burroughs’s
scheme to get some mony for himself. I intend wait-
ing on Mr. Le Grisse concerning it, when I go to
Norwich. Mrs Custance, (tho’ only brought to bed
about a fortnight) called here this morning in her
Coach and took Nancy with her to spend the day
with her at the New Hall. She is very finely and
brave indeed, am heartily glad for it. At 2 o’clock
took a walk to Mr. Custance’s and there dined
Spent the afternoon and evening till 8 o’clock.
Mrs. Custance dined by herself above stairs. Mr.
Press Custance, a Mr. Walton who is a Portrait
Painter from London and is drawing Mr. Cuatances
Picture, and Mr Rawlins the Architect dined with
us there. We had for dinner, a jugged Hare, a Leg
of Mutton rosted, stewed Beef and hashed Duck for
the first course, besides a fine Piece of boiled Beef
on the side table For the second Course we had
a brace of Pheasants rosted, some grilled oysters.
Pudding and Tarts and Custards. After Tea Mrs.
Custance, Nancy, Mr. Custance, Mr. Press Custance,
Mr Walton and Self played a Pool of Commerce of
one shiUing apiece, drawing two Pences, at which
I lost, 6d. Nancy lost i /6, having bought in a second
time. Mrs. Custance won the Pool, in all neat
o. 4. 6. Myself and Nancy returned home in Mr.
Custance’s Coach We spent a very agreeable day
at the New Hall. The weather also was very fine,
Evening cold rather.

Octob. 5. I breakfasted, dined, supped and slept again
at home. Nancy breakfasted, dmed etc. here again.
Mr. Charles Townshend of Honingham called on me

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1781

this morning about 1 1 o’clock and walked round my
gardens with me, and afterwards came in and sat
with us about half an hour, and then retired. He
caught me "on the hop, busy in my garden, and
dressed in my cotton morning gown, old Wigg and
Hat. Soon after Mr. Townshend left us, Dr. Thorne
of Mattishall made us a visit, walked about the
garden, eat some grapes, and after spending half an
Hour with us in my Study, he went away. About
2 o’clock Mr. du Quesne, and Mr. Priest of Reepham
in Mr. Priest’s Chaise came to us and dined and spent
the afternoon with us and part of the evening till
8 o’clock and then they went on to du Quesnes.
I gave them for dinner a Bit of boiled Beef, a boiled
Fowl with Pork and Greens and a Hare rosted
After Tea we played one Pool at Quadrille, neither
won or lost This has been quite a Levee day with us

Octob. 7 . . About 5 o’clock this afternoon who

should come to my house but Hall, who is just come
into Norfolk from Hampshire ; he supped and spent
the evening with us and wanted sadly to sleep at
my House, but it could not be. He slept at Lene-
wade Bridge, left us about 9 o’clock. HaU fights very
cunning about self, he loves himself too well and
would fain get a firmer footing at my House. I never
asked him to come to my House when he went. He
is very bold and will not take broad Hints. He will
do anything to save his own Pocket To a Brief for
Fire gave o. i o

Octob. 8. ... Mr. Hall never called here this morning

Octob. II. I breakfasted and dined at the King’s Head.
[He had ridden to Norwich the day before.] To
Mr. Baker for things at his shop pd o. 19 6. that is
— ^Tobacco Pott 4/6, 3 Quire of Paper, gilt, 2/6,

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1781

8 Quire of Paper not gilt 3/0, 3 cork screws i/o,
2 Pr of Nutt Crackers 2/0, glass Crackers 6d, humming
Top I/O, Bottle of Dalmahoys Perfume l/o. Netting
Kneedles for Nancy 9d, Small Candlestick for Wax
I /6, Ivory thing to wind silk or thread 6d Crackers
3d, Ivory Kneedles 6d, Bandalore 6d, in all 0. 19. 6.
Called at Captain Le Grisse’s this morning about
some Gravel, but he was not at home, had a long
Chat however with his Wife. Then called at Mr.
Francis’s, saw Mr. and Mrs Francis Junr but not
the Senior. From thence called and saw Miss Le
Neve in St. Stephen’s Church Yard, her Sister was
in the country. Miss Le Neve seemed pretty well
after her great loss of a good Mother There was
a Man with her of about 50 yrs old and I believe is
a Quaker as he kept his hat on all the time His
name was [not inserted by Diarist], a near Relation
of the late Mrs. Le Neve’s Miss Le Neve told me
that her Mother wondered that she did not hear from
me when she was at Windsor, but I told her that
I did send her a letter as she desired and m it one
to the Warden of New College by her desire The
letter miscarried, owing to its not being properly
directed, as Mrs Le Neve forgot to mention her
address at Windsor and therefore I only directed it
to her at Windsor. From Miss Le Neve went to
Mr Hall who has lodgings near St. Peter’s Church
behind the Market Place at a Glazier’s, by name
Smith He was very glad to see me and pressed [me]
to dine with him as he was just going to dinner, but
did not as I intended dining at Priest’s, but when
I got thither they had all dined, so I went to my Inn,
and there made a lunning dinner about 3. Mr. Hall
came to me soon aftei dinner and drank a glass of

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1781

Wiae with me and about half past 4 o’clock I left
Norwich, my man Will bringing my Horses in the
morn’. Paid and gave at the King’s Head abt o. 1 1 . o.
To Mr. Priest for an ounce of the best Rhubarb pd
o. 3. o. To a Mr. Chamber for half an oz ditto pd
o. 2. o. We got home to Weston about 6 o’clock
and there supped and slept at home Nancy very glad
to see me returned, having been alone all the time.

Octob. 17. ... Gave my Men Ben and Will leave to
go to St. Faith’s Fair to-day, they returned in good
time in the evening. They had my Horses to go
thither. Mr. Custance sent his Coach after Nancy
and myself about 2 o’clock for us to go and dine
with them by appointment and we dmed and spent
the afternoon with Mr. and Mrs. Custance, Lady
Bacon, Mr. du Quesne, Mr. Press Custance, Mr.
Carter the new Clergyman of Ringland, a Mr. Walton
who is a Painter and whom we saw before there. We
had for dinner, the first Course, some Fish, Pike,
a fine large piece of boiled Beef, Peas Soup, stewed
Mutton, Goose Giblets, stewed etc. Second Course,
a brace of Partridges, a Turkey rested, baked Pudding,
Lobster, scolloped Oysters, and Tartlets. The desert
black and white Grapes, Walnuts and small Nutts,
Almonds and Raisins, Damson Cheese and Golden
Pippms. Madeira, Lisbon, and Port Wines to drink.
We returned home about 8 o’clock as we went.
Du Quesne went with us and returned with us in
the Coach he leaving his Horse at my House dunng
the time. Nancy nor myself can make nothing of
Mr. Carter as yet. He is a short Man, black and
ordinary, tho’ young. Mr. du Quesne stayed writh
us about a Quarter of an Hour and then went home
on Horseback and a Man with him.

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Octob. i8. ... Mr. Forster of this Parrish lost a little
boy this morning. I privately named it in January
last It was never brought to Church to be pre-
sented. I am sorry for it. A great negligence in the
Parents of it I think.

Octob. 22. . Mr Carter of Ringland made us a long

morning visit and for the first time. He is a sensible
man. .

Oct 23 . . Mrs. Howes and Mrs. Davy called this

morning abt 1 1 o’clock. Mrs. Howes so weak that she
could not get out Mrs. Davy stayed dined and spent
the afternoon «vith us. Mrs. Howes returned back
again in the chaise At half past one Lady Bacon
and Mrs. Custance in a Coach and four made us
a morning visit, stayed with us about an hour and
then returned home Mrs Davy was highly pleased
with Mrs. Custance, as indeed, must everybody who
has once seen her. Mrs. Custance brought Nancy
a present of a leer Lawn Handkerchief and the Queens
Lace as It is called for her Stays We had for dinner
a Fowl boiled, and a Tongue, a piece of rost Beef,
and a plain Norfolk Pudding
Mrs Davy returned in the evening to Hockermg in
the Chaise.

Oct. 25. . . Mr. Hall called on us about noon but did
not dine with us, tho’ I asked him, as I dine at 3 o’clock.
He IS not looked upon in this neighbourhood so much
as he used to be, as his visits are merely interested for
himself, and that he never makes any kind of return
for the same, not even the smallest Present to any
Person.

Octob. 26. I breakfasted, dined, supped and slept again
at home. Nancy breakfasted, dined etc here again.
Took a ride about noon to Mr. Custance’s, saw him,

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1781

his Wife and Lady Bacon, they were all full dressed
and just going to Earlham to Mr. Bacon’s to dinner.
Took a ride from thence to Lenewade Bridge and
so home. Beckham the Net-Maker called here at
dinner and he dined with our Folks. He fights
cunning. He came to mend my dragg Net but I
would not have him mend it at my House as I know
him to be an expensive Boarder. If he has it to his
House to mend it will cost me 1.29 which is very
dear indeed. I told him that I would send it to his
House, if it was to be mended by him I saw Mr.
Custance’s new Brewhouse when there to-day. Every-
thing on a very large 'scale, so large as to brew eight
Barrels at a brewing, every article most convenient.

Oct. 29. ... Mr Cary and Mr. Hardy dined with our
Folks to-day. Clerk Hewitt of Mattishall Burgh
called on me this even’ by desire of Mrs. Davy to
taste some smuggled gin which I liked and he is to
bring me a Tub this week.

Nov. I. ... Mrs. Custance with her little Boys made us
a short visit this morning. I gave her eldest Boy
Hamilton an Humming Top. I gave George also
a silent Top, wch I bought for them some time ago.

Nov. 2. ... It rained so all the morning till two o’clock
that I was afraid I could not go to dine at Mr. Town-
shends but at a qr after 2 it begun to abate and then
I dressed and took a ride to Mr. du Quesnes where
I found Mr. Priest and after staying about half an
Hour with them there we all three went to Mr.
Townshends (Mr. du Quesne and Mr. Priest went in
du Quesne’s Chaise, myself on horse back) and we all
dined and spent the afternoon with Mr. and Mrs.
Townshend and stayed there till 9 at night and then
we returned and supped at du Quesnes. We did not

328

1781

dine till 4 o’clock, we had for dinner a Cod’s Head,
a Chine of Mutton, Veal Collops, Pudding baked etc.
Second course an Hare rosted and a Pheasant, some
Amulet Macaroni and Tarts etc. Madeira and Port
Wines to drink. We were at Mr. Townshends near
an Hour before dinner, during that time we went
into the Billiard Room and I played one game of
Bilhards with Mrs Townshend and beat her, tho’ she
plays very well. We dined in the dining Room and
drank Coffee and Tea in the drawing Room which is
hung with silk and most magnificent Furniture in it.
The Grate in it the finest I ever saw, all of steel and
most highly polished. It cost nineteen guineas
After Tea we played Quadrille, neither won or lost.
Upon the whole we spent a most agreeable day
there. On our return to du Quesnes Mr. Priest’s
eldest Daughter was there being returned thither
from Norwich. I supped and spent the evemng at
du Quesnes with him Mr Priest and Daughter.
I got home about ii at night. Mr. Priest and
daughter slept at Du Quesnes. My Man Will went
with me to Mr. Tovmshend’s etc. Sent a letter this
evening to my sister Pouncett. Nancy was well
pleased on my going out to-day.

Nov. 6. ... Mrs. Custance in a riding Habit came to
my House this morn’ on foot with her two eldest
Boys and a servant Boy with them about I 2 o’clock
much tired and very dirty and wet as were her httle
Boys. Mrs. Custance changed her Shoes and Stock-
ings and had some of Nancys Mrs. Custance drank
some warm red Wine and Water, which I hope will
prevent her catching cold, as did the little Boys.
Bang obliged to go to Lenewade Bridge to settle
Dr. Bathurst’s Tithe accounts I left Mrs. Custance

329

1781

etc. at my House and went to Lenewade Bridge (but
called at Mr. Custances in my road thither and
acquainted Mr. Custance of Mrs. Custance and little
Bop being at my House) and there I dined and spent
the afternoon with Bathurst’s Parishioners and re-
ceived their Compositions from most of them, and
about 6 returned home to Weston, and found Nancy
gone, as Mrs. Custance desired her to return and
dine with her, she went m the Coach and returned
by herself in the same between 7 and 8 this evening.

Nov. 10. ... My Boy coming from Mr. Custance’s
this morning found a Hare sitting, and we went with
our Greyhounds to course it, which we did and had
a tolerable good Course tho’ short, and Hlled it.
I gave Jack finding her as I used to do on finding
a Hare o i. o. Clerk Hewitt of Mattishall Burgh
brought me a Tub of Gin this evening about 5 o’clock.
Pd him for it i. 5. o Gave him also for his trouble
of bnnging it o. i. o. We had nineteen Bottles and
a Pint of the Tub

Nov. 14. . . About noon took a ride to Norwich with
my man Will and dined, supped and slept at the
King’s Head. As soon as I got to Norwich I went to
Kerrison’s Bank and there reed for cash etc. a Note
of 137. o . o which I immediately inclosed in a letter
to Dr. Bathurst of Christchurch, Oxford I walked
to the Post Office, and put the letter into the Post
which sets for London this evening at 10 o’clock.
I then went to the King’s Head and eat a Mutton
Chop and before I had quite dined Mr. Hall came to
me, and we smoked a Pipe and drank a Bottle of
Wine, took a Walk about Norwich till after nine and
then we supped and spent the evening together at
the King’s Head till after eleven o’clock and then

330

1781

Mr. Hall went to his Lodgings and I went to bed.
Walking so much this evemng etc. made me rather
fainty.

Nov. IS* I breakfasted and spent the morning at
Norwich. After breakfast took a Walk to Bakers and
bought a smelling Bottle of burnt salts for which
I pd o. I. o. For a Comb also at Bakers pd. o. o. 6.
For a silent Top also at Bakers pd o. o 6. At Mr.
Beatniffe’s, Lady’s Pocket Book for 1782 pd o, i o.
At Mr. Tolls for a Pr of Cotton Stochngs for Nancy
pd 0. 7* 6. Called on Mr Hall about 1 1 o’clock and
we took a walk Mr. Tandy’s in the Market Place
a Chymist and Druggist and bought of him i oz of
Rhubarb o. 3. o , of ditto for a small vial of Goulard’s
Extract pd o. o 3. The above Mr. Landy was of
Winchester and his Mother whom I knew very well
and often ticked with her hved in a House in College
Street and kept a Huckster’s Shop there, and she had
many a shilling of me. Mr. Landy is married and
came from London to Norwich about 3 years ago.
He has a very good shop and House. I did not see
his Wife. I invited him over to Weston I returned
to the King’s Head about noon, paid my Reckoning
and set of for Weston to dinner. I asked Hall to take
a ride with me and dine at Weston but he begged
to be excused. Pd. and gave at the King’s Head etc.
o 13. 10. I made Mr. Hall pay his share at the
King’s Head I got home to Weston about 3 o’clock
and dined, supped and slept at the Parsonage House.
Nancy breakfasted, dined etc. at Weston. I was
rather tired and fatigued by being out. Will informed
me to-mght of his being ill in the venereal way.

Nov. 17. ... Will had from Dr. Thorne’s for his com-
plaint some Salts and some Pills. He took a dose of

331

1781

Salts yesterday morning and this evening took one
Pill and is to take one every night tiU he has taken
8 and then to take another dose of salts. Dr. Thorne
says that his complaint is nothing very bad and will
do well soon. '

Nov. 21 ... One Mr. AUdridge who goes about with

a Cart with Linens, Cottons, Lace etc. called at our
House this morning to know if we wanted anything
in his way. He called here whilst Mrs. Howes and
Mrs. Davy were here. I bought of him some Cotton
6 yards for a morning gown for myself at 2/6 per
yard, pd. o. 15. o. Some Chintz for a gown for
Nancy 5 yds and i I pd i. 14. o. For an East Indian
Silk Handkerchief for selE pd o. 5. 6 Nancy also
bought a Linen Handkerchief etc of him. Mrs. Howes
bought a silk Handkerchief of him also.

Nov. 26. ... Mr Hall came here about 12 o’clock and
he stayed and dined and spent the afternoon with
us. He went away about 4 o’clock and took his
leave of us as he goes into Hampshire Wednesday
next, with intent to stay there with his Friends for
some considerable time, finding it very disagreeable
to board in this part of the Country — and which it
must be to him. We had for dinner some Soup,
a Turkey rosted and a Pudding. .

Nov. 28. I breakfasted, dined, supped and slept again
at home Nancy spent the day etc. at Hockering
Mr. Custance and his wife etc. returned home this
afternoon from Sr Edmund Bacons. I sent to enquire
after them in the evening and they were very well.
They sent me back the London Papers, in one of
which there was the foUowmg bad news from North
America ‘ that Lord Cornwallis with 7000 men were
obliged to surrender themselves all Prisoners to the

332

NANCY WOODFORD'E
By Samuel Woodforde, R A.

1781

Amencan Army of 15000 men ’ It was not authen-
ticated sufficiently being only mentioned in a morning
Paper from London.

Dec. I. I breakEasted dined, supped and slept again at
home Nancy breakfasted, dined, etc. here again. It
IS very true that L Cornwallis and his whole army
and 40 Ships 160 Cannon etc are all taken by the
Americans and French in Virginia.^ My People went
out a coursing this morning and they brought home
a brace of Hares, a Rabbit and a Partridge, which
they found in a Trap They saw a great many Hares
to-day and had fine sport. I could not go out with
them being busy.

Dec. 4. ... The two Miss Le Neve’s with another Lady
called here this morning in a Chaise, but I could not
prevail upon them to get out, as they were going to
dine at Witchingham. I asked them to dine with us
and eat some of my Frolic Pudding this day being
my Tithe Audit, but they could not The following
Farmers paid me their respective dues but Mr Dade
and Mr. Page — ^Peachman, Hewlett, Girling, Andrews,
Rising, Dade, Page, Mann, Pegg, Wm and Js Bide-
well, Cary, Bush, Case, Baker, Forster, Buck, WiUm
and Thos. Leggatt, Burroughs, Palmer of Morton
for Brother, Beanes for Mrs. Pratt and Horner.
They all dined and some stayed till very near 12 at
Midnight Stephen Andrews and John Pegg very
soon got quite drunk by strong Beer The lal;tei was
quite beastly so and spued about the Passage etc
Very shameful in him. I gave them for dinner
a Leg of Mutton boiled and Capers, Salt Fish and
Eggs, a fine Piece of rost Beef and Quantities of
Plumb Puddings, Wine, Punch and strong Beer to
^ At Yorktown on October 19, 1781 (See p 285, foot-note )

333

1781

drink after. They drank 5 Bottles and f of Rum,
4 Bottles of Wme. Nine Lemons made use of, and
I Pound and half of sugar from Cary’s I reed, this
day for Tithe and Glebe 240. 2. 6. ... It was rather
too late before they went, but they waited to see
the end of the Bowls. N.B. I filled the Bowls rather
too full this year. We did not sup till after 12 o’clock
and did not get to bed tdl near 2 in the morning.

Dec. 6 . . . About 12 Mrs. Howes and Mrs. Davy
came here and Mrs Davy was left here to spend
a few days with Nancy. Mrs. Howes returned back
without getting out Soon aft^ Mrs. Howes went,
Mrs. Custance with her eldest son came here m her
Coach and four and they stayed with us for 2 Hours.
After that Mrs. Dunnell came here and paid me for
Tithe and Glebe and CoU Land 20 9 6. out of which
I paid her for odd things i 6. 2. After that just as
we were going to dinner Mr. Mountain of Witching-
ham called here and paid me Tithe for Bathurst the
sum of 35. 5. o. Mrs. Davy dined, supped and slept
here with Nancy. We had for dinner some Soup,
a Piece of Beef boiled and a fine Hare rested. At
Quadrille with dummy this evening won o. 2. o.

Dec. 7. ... Immediately after breakfast I rode to

Honingham and married a very odd Couple, a fine
young Man about 22 years of age, by name Robert
Martin and an old, infirm, weak Widow about 50
years of age, by name Jane Price, by License, and for
du Quesne, as he was not returned home yet. I reed,
for marrying them, the usual Fee there 5. o. We
had for dinner to-day a Neck of Mutton boiled and
a Goose. At Quadrille with dummy this evening
won o. 6.

Dec. 10. ... To my Butcher Henry Baker this morning

334

1781

for Meat for the whole year till now pd 37. 2. o.
Reed, of do. for a Calf i. 5. o. We had for dinner
to-day a Rabbit, boiled and onions, and a fine piece
of rost Beef. . . .

Dec. II. ... Sr Edmund Bacon and Mr. Custance
made us a long morning visit. I signed a Paper for
Mr. Custance as a Witness for seeing him write his
name About noon took a nde to Norwich and my
man Will went with me, but he returned back to
Weston with my Horses, as soon as I got thither.
I dined etc. at Norwich. As soon as I got to Norwich
I walked to Mr. f rancis’s and there dined and spent
the afternoon with him, his Wife and Mr. Francis
Senr. We had for dinner a couple of Rabbits boiled
and onions, and some rost Beef. After dinner I settled
some money Accounts with both the Mr Francis’s.
To the Senr paid him for Acourt Dodd Esq,
money lent me 4 or 5 yrs ago 100. o. o For
Interest for the above at 5 per Cent, for one
year and one month and some odd days pd him
besides 5. 8. 6. . . .

Dec. 12. I breakfasted and spent the morning at
Norwich. Before breakfast walked to Lewis’s shop
and there bought 6 yds of printed linen for my under
Maid at 2/2 per Yard — 13/0. For a Lining i/o,
o. 14 o. Bought also 6 yds of black ground Cotton
for a morning Gown for myself at 2/4, o. 14. o. To
5 yds also of Ell wide Calicoe for a Lining o 7. 6.
After breakfast I took a walk to Miss Le Neves and
paid them a years Rent for Coll. Land 16. 0. o.
I stayed with them near an hour. They told me that
they leave Norwich next week for good and are
going to London to reside. I washed them happy.
To my Taylor Harland, by his man Forster pd.

335

1781

4* 1 6. 6. I sent by him to his men in the shop to
drink o. i. o. Went to the Post Office and gave one
John Watson who is under Post-Master, my annual
gift of 2. 6. At Chase’s for Moores Almanack for
1782 pd o. o. 9, at ditto for Baldwins Pocket Book
for do. pd o. I. 8. To my Barber Wileham for a new
Wigg pd I. 5 o In the Fish Market for some
Oysters 6 pd o. o. 3. For one Couple of Widgeon in
the Market pd o. i. 6. My man Will came with my
Horses this morning and at 2 this afternoon set of
for Weston. Paid and gave at the King’s Head
o. 6. 6. I got home to dinner 4 o’clock and there
dined, supped and slept at the Parsonage.

Nancy breakfasted, dmed etc. there again, Mrs.
Davy breakfasted, dined etc. there again. We had
for dinner to-day a Couple of Babbitts and onions
and a fine Turkey rested. For supper one of the
Widgeon rested and which was very nice.

Dec. 16. . .1 read Prayers and Preached and Churched
a Woman, my boy Jack’s Mother, this morning at
Weston. I gave her the churching Fee and she dined
at my House afterwards, as did a young Man by
name FothergiU who brought a note from Mrs. Davy
to Nancy. Neither my Squire or Lady at Church,
the former being lU.

Dec. 17. ... To, my Malster, Palmer of Morton for
Malt etc. for the last year pd him this morning a Bill
of 22. I. 6. .

Dec. 19. ... To a poor lame Boy of my Gardner

Spraggs gave 0. o. 6 and some Victuals and drink.
Never known scarce such a continuation of so fine,
mild and open Weather as we enjoy at this season.
Spent a couple of Hours this morning in my Cover
hunting Babbitts and laying one of my Fishmg Nets

336

1781

for them about the Furze. We caught one in the
net and another the dogs caught, both young.

Dec. 21. ... To poor People (being St. Thomas Day)
of Weston that live in the Parish gave each 6d in
all I. 2. 6.

Dec. 24. . .1 took a walk to Mr. Custance’s this

morning and spent an agreeable Hour with him and
his Wife. Mr. Custance is but very poorly indeed,
and their youngest child also very ill. They sent for
Dr. Donne from Norwich on the Child’s account
early this morn’. Their servant brought back a letter
for my Niece frqjn the Post Office, from her Father,
who acquaints her that he is greatly distressed for
money. I paid for the letter 8d, gave the boy Edwd
4d. o. I. o. Gave to the Carpenters at Mr. Cus-
tances as I went into their shop at Sandy Hill to
drink o. i. o. To John Horner for Hulver [i.e. Holly^
agst. Christmas o. i. o. Sent Mrs. Custance a very
fine Colhflower this evening.

Dec. 25. I breakfasted, dined, supped and slept again
at home. Nancy breakfasted, dined etc. here again.
I read Prayers and administered the H. Sacrament
this morning at Weston being Christmas Day. My
Squire’s Lady at Church and at the Sacrament. The
Squire was not well enough to attend. Richd. Bates,
Richd Buck, (Tom Cary), Tom Carr, Tom Dicker,
Tom Cushion and Js Smith my Clerk all dined at
my House I gave each of the poor old Men i/o,
being o. 7. o. We had a good piece of rost Beef for
dinner and plenty of plumb Puddings. Poor old
Tom Cary could not dine here being iU, but he is
another day and have i/o. Gave Nancy this evening
for Card Mony etc. as she is going to spend a few
days at Mattishall with Mr. and Mrs. Bodham i. r. o.

337 z

1781

To Spragg’s lame son for a Christmas Carol gave
o. o. 6.

Dec. 26. I breakfasted and slept again at home. Nancy
Breakfasted at home. To Weston Ringers this morn-
ing gave o. 2. 6. About 12 Mr Bodham of Mattishall
came after my Niece in his Whiskey and at i they
went of for Mattishall. I gave Mr. Bodham a fine
Hare to carry home with him in the Whiskey. I went
with them part of the way on my Mare and my man
Will with me. I went from them to go and see
Mrs. Howes who is but poorly again. Saw her,
Mr. Howes, Mrs. George Paiije, Mrs. Davy and
Betsy. The Family there in great distress about
Alexander Paine who made away with himself on
Sunday last by throwing himself headlong into a deep
Pit. He married one of Mr. Howes’s daughters, but
his circumstances being but very badly, is supposed
to be the cause of so rash an action. The poor Man,
they say, had no vicious Ways whatever, but no kind
of economy or conduct in either him or his Wife.
I am very sorry for the poor Fellow indeed, he has
been at my House more than once I liked him very
well. From Mrs. Howes’s I went on to Mattishall
and there dined, spent the afternoon, supped and
spent the evening at Mr. Bodhams, being his Rotation
Day. Mr. Howes, Mrs. Davy, Mr. Smith, Mr. du
Quesne, Nancy and myself all dined with Mr. and
Mrs. Bodham We had for dinner some boiled Beef,
three Fowls rosted, a Pigg’s Face, stewed Loin of
Mutton, Peas Soup and Mince Pies Mr Howes and
Mrs Davy returned to Hockering about 9 o’clock
and Mr. Smith took the advantage of their carnage
to his House, as it rained then very much. Mr. du
Quesne and myself being on horseback and the

338

1781

weather very wet about 9 o’clock, we therefore
stayed and supped with Mr and Mrs Bodham and
my Niece. We had for supper some Brawn, cold
Beef and Mince Pies Mr. du Quesne and self stayed
till after 1 1 o’clock and then it being tolerable weather
we set of for our respective Homes I got home about
12 and not very wet. My Niece stayed and supped
and slept at Mr. Bodhams At Quadrille this even-
ing won o. 2. 6 I did not get to bed till after i
o’clock. I had my Bed warmed and was very
comfortable

Dec. 27. I breakfasted, dined, supped and slept again
at home. To Mr. Cary for things from Norwich
etc pd o. 16. 5. To Betty foi bread pd o o. i.
To Will for Turnpikes etc. pd o. o. 10. To Jack,
Mony borrowed of him pd o i o To my Black-
smith’s Boy a Xmas Box o o. 6 To my Butcher’s
son, a Xmas Box o. i. o Mr. Cary dined with our
Folks to-day as he could not on Christmas Day, not
being well. Du Quesne sent over to me this morning
to desire me to dine with him to-day but I begged
to be excused.

Dec. 28 I breakfasted, dined, supped and slept again
at home. Had my study Chimney Place altered to-
day by Mr Hardy and to prevent its smoking, but
am still afraid of it This is I believe the 4th time
of altering it already I was hurried all day about it
and also vexed. Mi Hardy and his Man Tom Carr
^ined in Kitchen.

Dec. 29. I breakfasted, dined, supped and slept again
at home Pd Mr. Hardy and Man for work yesterday
o. 2. 9. About Noon Mr. Bodham brought home
Nancy in his Whiskey. I desired him to dine with
me on a fine Hare, but he promised Mrs. Bodham to

339 2 2

1781

return home. Nancy dined, supped and slept at
home. To my Gardner Spraggs for work pd o. 4. 0.

Dec. 30. I breakfasted, dined, supped and slept again
at home. Nancy breakfasted, dmed etc. etc. here
again. I read Prayers, Preached, and Churched a
Woman this morning at Weston Church. My Squire
and Lady at Church, reed for churching the woman
o. o. 6. Jack’s Brother, Tom Wharton dmed with our
Folks.

Dec. 31. I breakfasted, dined, supped and slept again
at home. Nancy breakfasted, dined etc. here again.
To my Malster’s Man a Xmas Bqx gave o i. o. To
Mr. Cary for things from Norwich etc. pd o 6 2.
Walked out a coursing this morning with my dogs
for four Hours , had a very fine course with one
Hare and which we at last killed ; saw no other Hare.
Betsy Davy was brought this morning on horseback
from Hockering to spend a day or two with Nancy
She dined, supped and slept here. Being the last
day of the year we sat up this night till after 12
o’clock ; drank our Friends health everywhere with
many returns of the present season and went to bed.

{As to Contimatton of the Dtary^see Prefatory Note,^. tx.)

340

INDEX^

PART I. GENERAL

(For Persons, see Part II (fl), and for Places, Part II (b ) )
Roman numerals refer to the parts of the Index

Abuses, 38, 46 , and v Examination
farce, non-residence, pluralism
Accidents, 210, 283, 319
Accounts, 1 1, 215 , and v Charges
Actors V Players
Affihation, 231 et seq
All fours, 173

Aims, 19, 24, 36, 44, 48, S9, 103, ia6,
19s, 198, 299, 314, 336, 337
American war, 92, 140, 169, 194, 273,
332, 333

Anatomy of Melancholy^ 112

Anchor (of rum), 198

Apple-pye bed, 302

Ardent^ war-ship, 261

Anadne^ frigate, 270, 282, 283, 284, 296

ArtstotUs Philosophy^ 280

Armorial bearings, 78, 285, 296

Auctions, 144, 145

Audit (college), 169

Audit-house, the, 169,

Backsword v Cudgell-playmg
Baker v Society, English
Baldwin^ s Journal^ 178
Ball, 62 , and v Dancing
Band of musick, 62 , and v Music
Bank note, 172, 184, 272
Baptisms, 33, 45, 52, 74, 80, 92, 97,
168, I9I, 207, 212, 24S, 271, 272, 282,
292, 320

Barbers, 45, 66, 133, 137, 139, 166,
and V Wigs

Barristers v Counsellors
Bath chair (self-propelled), i66
Bath Newsman, 55, 82, 105
Battledore and shuttlecock, 87
Bear-baitmg, 12
Bedding, 13, 263
Bedmaker, 133, 137
Bedwarmmg, 339
Beer v Beverages

Beggar* s Opera^ 22 , and v Pla>b
Bell-ringers, 33, 35, 132
Beil-string-rood, 190
Bettmg, 37, 44, 169 , and v Lottcncb
(racing)

Beverages g]

ale, 14, 25, 28, 124, 137, 186, 193
beer, 84, 102, 193
Dorchester, 256
small, 62, 137
spruce (bottled), 322
strong, 28, 35, 45, 62, 137, u
alibt

brandy and milk, 259
cocoa vel chocolate, 78, 140, 144,
149

coffee, 98, 150, 1 51
dish of, 251

cyder, 35, 42, 43, 68, 84, yy, 102,
137, 152, 174, et ahhi
Geneva (Holland), 304
(smuggled), 198
gin, 188
(smuggled), 328
grace cup, 13, 121
lamb’s wool, 148
porter, 186

punch, 13, 17, 26, 84, 193, 198
arrac, 137, 143

gin? 215

(lemon and sugar for), 194, 334
rum, 67, 186, 193
(smuggled), 198, 200
tea, 22, 26, 88, 102, 151
(dish of), 172, 189
green, 26, 116
(smuggled), 197, 301
wme and egg, 150
wines, 102, 107, 143
Calcavella, 276
clarett, 14, 154
Lisbon, 14

^ For this index 1 am indebted to Mrs K A Patmore

341

Index — General

Beverages {conu)
wines {cont )

Madeira, 14, 128, 137, 174, 270
mountain, 31, 94, 319
port, II, 12, 13, 14, 17, 19, 23,
94 , 137, 174
red, 128
white, 128
sack, 122

Bills of fare, 75, 102, 121, 128, 173,
198 , and V Beverages, Brealrfasts,
Foods, Dinners, Suppers
Birth register, 311

Bishops, 38 etseq^ 6 $^ 115, 134, 149,
204, 205, 278

Black book (Oxon ), 135, 136,

147

Bleeding, 63, 252
Boating, 251
Bonfires, 304
Books, 17
Booksellers, 21
Bootcatch, 166

Breakfasts, 14, 25, 78, 230, and »
Beverages, Foods

Brewing, 26, 36, 45, 62, 194, 195, 222,
328

Bride’s bed, 127
Bridewell, 134
Brief foe fire, 324

Burials, 12, 43, 45, 48, 54 , 59 > 69, 74,
76, 80, 86, 99, 109, 1 14, 198, 230,

^ 95 ) 5^96, 318

Bursars, 121, 136, 144

Cards, 66, 79, 137, 173, 206, 246, 249,

^^ 74 , 301, 3 ^ 3 , 334 , 339
Carols, 42, 82, 338
Cat incident, 68, Si.

Cattle disease, 96
Chair V Chaise

Chaise vel post-chaise, 13 1, 267, 290,
298, 311

Chaplains, 24, 165
Charges
college, 26

innkeepers’, 123, 124, 133, 139, 150,

>54»

lodgings, 104, 257
musiaans’, 134

tradesmen’s, 23, 25, 43, 45, 66, 73,
8i, 9S, laa, laS, 133, 135, 137,
183, 186, 1 9 1, 222, 226, 269, 297,
3ai, 334 a seg , 328, 331, 33a,
335

travelling, 146, 149, 151, 154, 174,

*S 3 > * 57 . *58

Chanot, 155, 156
Chanty sermon, 236, 278
Cbatbam^ war-ship, 234
Chemistry, 158, 162
Chequer (room), 121, 122, 128, 129,

136. 137. 141

China ware, 268
Chmese visitor, 162
Christenings v Baptisms
Christmas, 42
dinner, 13
(poor’s), 103, 195
Chrononbotontbologos^ 100
Churchmg, 28, 36, 44, 90, 191, 302,
336, 340

Church repairs, 252
Church-wardens, 76, 80
City gates (Norwich), 151
Clothes, II, 23, 54, 58, 128, 146, 163,
175, i9?> i95> 197, 2123, 229 j 269,
282, 290, 299, 301, 308, 332, 335 ,
and V Livery, Mourning, Robes,
Sumptuary
Club, social, 145
Coaches, 154, 230, 234, 235
(Hackney), 149, 308
Cock fighting, 86, 1 14
Coffee house, 135, 149, 263
Coffin, 295
Coffin incident, 115
Comic song, 144

Common rooms, 17, 26, 28, 122, 130,
*33. *34, *38, 141, *43, *44, *48,
*64. *7*

Concealment of birth, 52
Concert, 62 , and v Music
Concubines v Mistresses
Conntsseur^ tbe, 68
Convocation, 169
Cookery, 102, 210, 322
Coronation day, 89
Coroner’s inquest, 52, 53
Counsellors, t e barristers, 16, 60
Coursing, 33, 78, aao, 303, 330, 333,

340

Court martial (naval), 240
Court of chancery, 156
Criminals, 16, 19, 24, and v. High-
waymen, Murders, Trials
Cudgell-playmg, 90, no
Curacy, 24, 27, 32, 33, 34, 35,
37

Curios, 226, 268, 270
Curlmg tongs, ii, 302
Curl papers, 114
Customs, 120, 1 21, 187, 230.

Cutlery, 217

Index — General

Damp sheets, 297
Dancmg, 61, 75, 78, 83, 103
Deafness, 83
Deans, 17, 120, 164
Defflamations, 15, 19, 147 , (editorial),
161

Defamation, 70, 291, 293
Degrees, 26, 36, 46, 64, 122, 159, 160,
163, 169, 170, 171, 172
Dilapidations (eccles ), 155, 171, 182,
187, 191, 194
* DisabeUe 227, 267, 324
Deserters, 259

Dianst V 11 a Woodforde, James.
Diary, mislaid, 178
Diligence, * e vehicle, 259
Dinners, 35, 71, 130, 208, 214,
235, 237, 242, 246, 287, and V
Beverages, Foods, Ordinary
Disapline, 17, and v Iihpositions,
Penance, Proctors
Diseases

consumption, 57, 64, 123
gout, 144, 300
influenza, 172
King’s evil, 175
measles, 87
rheumatism, 123
stone, 104
venereal, 331

and V Epidemics, Small-pox.

Dog incident, 183

Dog’s accident, 21 1, 231, 303

Dole, 320

Dreams, 119, 120, 186, and v 1 I<?

Corpe, Stacy
Dnlling, 1 15

Drunkenness, 12, 16, 17, 19, 25, 26,
27 j 32j 405 68, 99, 1 01, 105,

114, 116, 120, 134, 13s, I4S, 168,
175, 191, 201, 225, 231, 266, 314,
333, etalibt
Drunken pigs, 222, 223
Dues (eccles ), 193
(farmers’), 333
Duns, 19, 23
Dutch sLps, 188
war, 303

Earache, 307
Early rising, 36, 62
Easter dinner, 307
Eaton [Eton] team, 14
Effigy burnt, 81
Eggs incident, 190
Election

of Chancellor (Oxon.), 1 1 5.

liberty of, 96 , and v 11 a Wilkes
Oxon , 73

petition, 90, 91 , and v Parlia-
mentary
Emetic, 105
Engine (pumping), 210
Entertainments, 145 , andv Dancing,
Plays

Epidemics, 64, 67, 315, 321
Epitaph, 1 13
Equestrian feat, 13
Esq (use of), 71
Examination farce, z 59.
Examinations, 25, 171
Execution v Hanging
Expulsion, 55

Fainting fit, 60, 1 86
Fairs, 48, 1 14, 194, 212.

Fancy dress, 62
Farmers’ dues, 333
Farmers’ feast, 270
Fasts, Lenten, 200, 201
Good Fnday, 200, 201
Fast, public, 16, 221, 273, 302
Fees

(clencal), 28, 31, 36, 37, 43, So, 82,
99, ISO, 249, 272, 302
(legal), 97
(masonic), 129
(medical), 191, 192
(ordination), 26

Fellows, 17, 23, 29, 34, 121, 164,

173

Female soldier, 224 , and v 11 a Snell,
Hannah
Ferry, 265
Fete-champetre, 217
Fire-engine, 21, 81 , and v water-
engine

Fires, 242, 314
Fire-scare, 174, 231
Fireworks, 89, 90, 282, 286
Fishing, 222, 255, 289, 309.

Fives, 37
Fives-place, 76
Fly incident, 266
Foods [eg]
bread and buttei, 122
bread and cheese, 201
bread and milk, 315
cheese, 94
parmezan, 248

cakes, plumb, 43, 121, 148, 184.

plumb and carraway, 230
eggs, 75, 102

343

Index — General

Foods {cont )
fishi, 79, loz
carp, 222.

cod vel codd, 121, 128, 173
crabs, 184, 251
cruzers, 222.
eels, 31 1
gudgeon, 311
hernngs, 191
lobster, 128, 148
(hot), 305
maccarel, 229
oysters, i8, 35, 84, 3*3
(Colchester), 274
pickled, 35
pike, 276

'with pudding in his belly’,

310

salmon, 208, 303
smelts, 188
souls [52c], 121
trench, 184
trout, 126

fruits, 137, 143, 174
apples, 268
beefans [biffins], 277.
chernes, 56
damson cheese, 273
grapes, 324, 326
melon, 268
mulbernes, 261,
oranges, 313
peacffies, 119
pears, 261, 268
pine-apple, 60, 65
small nuts, 268
strawberries, 184, 313.
wallnutts, 265, 268
maccarom, 270
meats

beans and bacon, 185.
beef, 42, 99, 121, 124, 187, 190,
193,195, etaliht
potted, 246
stakes, 43
surloin, 95
brawn, 301, 303, 339
calf 8 head, 273
chicken, 173
ducks, 89, 196
fawn, 118

fowl, 29, 52, 79, 99, 104, 190
Wild (dun), 273
goose, 95, 98, 137, 198
graus, 31

Iwm, 29, 52, 75, 79, 84, 99.
hare, 13, 18, 146

lamb, 28, 1 21
(London), 195
larkes, 174, 273
leverett, 139, 140
mutton, 43, 80, 93, 128, 137, 188,
et ahht

and batter pudding, 313
(coU), 137
hash, 237
stakes, 220
partridges, 174, 187
pheasant, 268
pidgeons, 108, 128.

picklcdj 206

pigg’s face, vel face and greens,
203, 285

pork, 80, 102, 190
ancj^peas, 303

pyes

chicken, 128
gibblet, 246
meat, 235

rabbits, 13, 93, 121.

and omons, 198
sheep’s heart, 35
smpe, 174
swan, 273
sweetbreads, 128
tongue, 75, 173
tongue and udder, 24
turkey, 174, 195
veal, 75, 84, 128
coUops, 248

venison, 20, 29, 40 , et edtbt
Norfolk dumphngs, 190, 240
rice milk, 190
sauces

caper, 208, 313
catchup, 239
cockle, 308
currant jelly, 273
high, 128
oyster, 121, 173.
sweet, 254
soup, 173, 276
green pea, 137
peas, 121
sweets

apple fritters, 201
blancmange vel blamange, 273,
291, 313

and currant jelly, 312
cheesecakes, 254
custards, 312
jelhes, 128, 174
lemon cream, 249

344

Index — General

Foods {cont )
sweets {cont )
pancakes, 148
puddings
apple, 79
apricot, 257
baked, 318
batter, 196
currant, 198
custard, 270
* frolic *, 333,

New College, 137.

Norfolk, 327
orange, 121, 174
orange-apple, 248,
plain, 198

plumb, 42, 74, 75, 95, 187,
z^o, 193, 195 , et alwt
raisin, 64 ^

sewet ^el suet, 242, 275.
puffs, 249
pyes

currant, 254
♦gooseberry, 252
mince, 93, 121, 245, 299
raspberry cream, 312
stewed pears, 237
sugar plumbs, 114
syllabubs, 128, 174
tarts, 84, 188
apple, 89, 102, 318
apricot, 128
codim, 137
plumb, 102

\egetables, 36, 64, 137, 173,

190

artichokes, 313, 316
asparagus, 128, 184, 235, 248
beans, 64, 3x9
cucumber, 99, 128
patagonian, 322
green, 64

mushrooms, 128, 276
peas, 313

potatoes, frilled, 7$
in shells, 235
roots, 128

sallad vel sallet, 99, izi
Spanish omons, 36
watercress, 174

Footpad, 300, and v Highwa>-
men

Fortune^ sloop-of-war, 255
Four-in-hand, 276
Franked postage, 235
French prisoners, 263*
war, 273, 300.

I Gallery [church] dispute, 79, 84, 85.

: Games, 14, 37, 48, 73, 7^9 7^} 81, 87,
j 106, 137, 138, 141, ^73i 186,

ct alibt and v Cards
Gardening, 36, 43 ) ^S^) 3 ^^? 3 ^^)

324

Gardens, 32, 135

Garden temple, 25, 3Sj ^ 85 ) ^89

Garden tent, 19, 49

Garters, 36, 191, 302

Gentlemen commoners, 13, 59, 130,

134, 13s, > 4 - 7 . 163
Cantab , 179,
incident, 135
Girls* school, 31, 205
Glebe, 153, 154, 155, i 9 ^y 334 -
Gloves, 109.

Gordon riots, 283 et seq
Gossips [sponsors], 249
Gownsmen, 128, 129, 13®

Grace cup, 13, 121
Guineas, George IIIj 88.

Gunpowder Plot, 81.

Haberdashery, 32, 225, 325
Hairdresser, 19, 257) and v Baibcr,
Handbell ringer, 242
Handbolts, 82
Handcuffs v Handbolts
Hanging, t 6 , 148, 248, 306
Hangman, 209 , and v 11 Jack
Ketch

Hardware, 308
Harvest customs, 1879 2-30
feast, 230

Harvesters, vel shearers, 230
Heraldry, 297

Highwaymen, 116, 294) 3 ®^) 3^7
Hop V Dancing
Horned-cattle session, 97*

Hornsby’s thermometer, 174
Horsc-doctoring, no, 252, 289, 290,
hire, 126, 132
Horses, pnce of, 176
Horse- racing, 47, 138
Hospitals, 61, 82
Hotwells (Bnstol), 59
Hounds, 246
House of industry, 305
Hussar, frigate, 44
Hydropathy, 104, 123

Impositions, 14, 17, 135 ) H7*
Indigestion, 245, ^ 5 ^) ^S 3 > ^^ 5 )
276

Inhospitable inn, 94
Innkeepers v Charges, Inns*

345

Index — General

Inns Ansford Inn, 68, 73, 102, 104 ,
Ansford Half Moon, 94, Attle-
borough Cock, 180, Bath
Angel, 146, Bear, 83, 127, King’s
Arms, 47, White Lion, 127, Castle
Cary Angel, 93 , George, 84, 209,
Bridgwater Piper’s Inn, 65 , Ever-
shot King’s Anns, 12, London
Turk’s Head Coffee House, Strand,
149, Norwich King’s Head, 15 1,
180, Maid’s Head, 207, Oxford
Blue Boar, 210, 264 , Cross Inn, 14 ,
Sherborne George, 256, Tedbury
White Hart, 140, Thame Red
Lion, 178 , Tring Rose and Crown,
178, Wells Swan, 90, Weston
Hart, 280, 281 , Weymouth King’s
Head, 257 , Yarmouth Wrestlers,
i88

Inoculation, 37, 40, 41, 76, 77, 86,
190, 192, 244

‘Jericho ’ [pnvy], 280
Jewellery, 319
Jews, 165
Jilt, 168

Kennersly’s, 13
King’s accession, 156
birthday, 204, 226
evil, 86 , ani v Diseases
Ktng George^ war-ship, 22
Kmg’s speech, 96*

Lady of the manor, 78
Lease, t*e couple, 12 1
Lther valorum, Ecton, x 1 1
Light, mystenous, 103
Litigation, 84, 97, 98
Livery, 61, 74, 182
Loans, 85, *781 SHj 335

Londiner [s*c], 86
Lotteries, 89, 172
(racmg), 138

Machine, t e vehicle, 122, 123, 144,
- i49> 233 j *56, 267, 311
Manciple, 23
’ Man Satire ’, 240

Manners, ao, 25, 26, 27, 33, 34, 43,
5 *. S 3 , 55 , 56, 68, 73, 75, 79, 81, 83,
84, 86, 87, 93, 98, loi, 105, 1 18,
129, 130, 134, 137, 266, 275, 310 ,
and V Drunkenness
Manuscripts, 21

Marriages, 82, 119, 131, 141, 292, 334
Marriage settlement, 167
Masonic initiation, 129

Masquerade, 62

Masters of Schools (Oxon ), 1 57
Mayor, Norwich, 286
Mayor’s feast, 287

Medicaments, 63, 81, 87, 104, 105,
107, 108, 141, 172, 17s, 190, 192,
193, 212, 247, 252, 273, 298, 299,

307, 33 *

Methodists, i8, 19, 30, 59, 148, 177,
*36, 273
Midwife, 168
man, 292, 319
ani V lla Martineau
Militia, 65, 228, 266
Mistresses, 203, 249, 278, 282, 286,
287

Monmouth^ war-ship, 279
Monster pig, 245
Monster pike, 310
Monster tiffkey, 302
Monument, 113, and v lla Wood-
forde, Samuel
Moords Almanack^ 336
Mortgage, 175

Moummg, 15, 80, 99, 109, 145, 230,
248, 295, 318
Mourning gloves, 109
rings, 20
Mummers, 83

Murders, 46, 166, 167, 250 , andv lla,
Ackman

Music, 73, 75, 83, 91, loi, 102, 103,
134, 135, 235, 286 , and V Band,
Charges, Sttccardo pastorale^ Triple
harp

Mutiny, 228

Napery, 209
Naval engagement, 261
Necessary-house inadent, 94
Newspapers, 18, 21, 213, 254, 272,
282, 332 , and V Bath Newsman
New Year, 299
New Year’s eve, 340
Non-residence, 38, 39
Northern lights, 201
Notes of hand, 88

Oath of abjuration, 1 53
Oaths V Swearing (profane)
Offertory, 120
Omens, 103

Oratorios Esther^ 1 1 , Hercules^ 134
Ordinary (at inn), 66
Ordmations, 26, 40
Orgamst, blind, 154
Owl incident, 117

34^

Index — General

Oxford building improvements, iii,
265

Oxford Journal^ 133
Oxford Magazine, 133

Pamphlets, 82
Papists, 44, 45, 65, 292
Parish bounds, 280 ei seq
officer, 232

Parhamentary candidates, 68, 73
elections, 65, 73, 139
voting, 67

Parhament, dissolution of [1780], 291
Peace (of Pans), 24
Peacock’s tail, 75
Peasants’ descents, z8i, 182
Penance, pubhc, 68, 69
Pensions (govt ), 21
soldier’s, 314
Perfume, 325
Pew incident, 287
Pewter, 78

Physician’s charges, 104
Pictures, 157, 251
Pillion, 257
Planetary transit, 86
Players, 58, 100, 123
Plays, 153
All m the Wrong, 18
Beggar^ s Opera, 57, 62, 100
ton, 202, 219
Buxom Joan, 308
Camp, Ube, 274
Cats, 42

Clandestine Marriage,

Deuce is in him, ziy
Hamlet, 100, 116, 274
Harlequin Touchstone, 304, 308
Hob in the Well, n6
Love a la mode, 1 57
Love in a Village, 56
Maid of the Oaks, 217
Merchant of Venice, 157
Orphan, 56
Padlock, 133
Plain Dealer, 304
Provoked Husband, 56, 219
Richard III, 100
Royal Suppliants, 308
Tancred and Sigismunda, 201
Pluralism, 38, 39, 80, iii
Pond close, 65 , a alibi
Poors’ overseer, 82
Popds Works, 101
Portraits, 323
Poser (Winton), 89, 1 1 5
Practical jokes, 256, 275, 301, 309

Presbyterians, 22, 309
Presents, 27, 31, 33, 35, 36, 42, 45 ^ 4 ^,
835 955 975 122, 123, 124, 125, 126,

127, 131, 133, 136, 139, 144, 152,

154, 156, 166, 168, 175, 178, 183,

187, 188, 190, 195, 198, 235, 262,

285, 290, 317, 319 , and V Alms
Press gang, 289
Png, a, 189
Pnnter, King’s, 150
Pnsoners, 16

Private soldier (relative), 21

Pnze, Naval v Tyger

Procession (academic), 122

Proctor (eccles ), 187

Proctors (Oxon ), 16, 127, 134, 147

Profile (silhouette), 163

Prostitutes, 70, 134, 157, 258, 286

Protection, 197

Prussian tailor, 182

Pugihsm, 86

Purging, 140

Purse incident, 277

Puzzles, 304

Quakers, 226, 325
Quarantine, 268
Quebec, Taking of, 12
‘ Quebec ’ [* folly ’], 305
Queen’s [Charlotte] birtlida), 216,
272

Queen’s [stay] lace, 327

Rape, 213, 293
Rat-catching, xSz, 189
charges, ibidem
Rates (poors’), 57.

Rejoicings (pubhc), 89, 99, 304
Religious customs, 152
Religious observances, 13, 16, 18, 21,
27. 2S, 33, 34, 36, 40, S3, 59, 61,
67, 68, 70, 80, 81, 82, 85, 92, 93,
lOX, 103, 1x7, Z20, I2I, 128, I4I,
152, 186, I9I, 200, 203, 215, 221,
25*, 275, 276, 299, 307, 313, 314,
320, 337, 340, and V Baptisms,
Churchings, Marriages, Ordinations,
Burials
Rents, 73
Rent dinner, 73
Robes, 86

(academic), 122, 134, 149, 170, 171,
179

(clerical), xo2, 321
(legal), 157

Roman Catholics v Papists*
Rotation day, 206, 285.

347

Index — General

Royal address^ X69
box, 157
portraits, 49

Sapphic metre, 14

Savings, 4S, 54, SS

Scholars, 13, 89
Schoolmaster’s fees, 194
Schoolmistress, 306.

Sea- water dnnlang, 153*

Sedan chair, 156

Sermons, 27, 171, 172, 134, 135, 141,
255> 217 Ij 278, 321
Servant incident, 130,

Servants, 104, 144, 182, 189, 190,
194, 196, aoi, 225, 234, 235, 236*
237, 271, 272, 275, 340
Shaving acadent, 247,

Shaving-box, 122
Shaving inadent, 85
Shooting, 215, 216, 241
Simpson’s rooms (Bath), 83
Singers (church), 92, 93, 95, 152*
Skating, 23

Small-pox, 13, 80, 186, 192, 244, 305 ,
and u Inoculation
Smobng, 24, 26, 29, 130, 143, 155,
(Indian bark for), 29
Smoky chimney, 339
Smugghng, 197, 282
Snuff, 19 1
Snuff-box, 13, 18
Snuff-box inadent, 189
Society, Enghsh, 29 et seq
Somerset v Wilts cockfight, 108
Spanish war, 273
Spider inadent, 141
Spmnet, 13, 18
Spittmg basm, 70
boxes, 64

Sports, 13, 14, 65, 75, 79, 86, 90, 240 ,
and V Cock-ffghting, Coursing,
Fishing, Games, Women’s event
Spurious [natural] children, 302
Spying glass, loi
Standish, 12
Stationery, 12, 220, 325
Statuary, 113 , andv lla Ford
Stays, 28a

Steward (New Coll ), 23
Sttccardo pastorale (quasi-zylophone),
^35

Stipends, clerical, 24, 34
scholastic, 1 19
Substitute (mihtary), 247
Subwarden (New CoU ), 14, 120*
Suiades, 195, 250, 338

Summons, 97

Sumptuary regulations (Oxon ), 136
Suppers, 14, 28, 83, 84, 235 , and v
Beverages, Foods
Surgery (amateur), 81
Swearing (profane), 90, 105, 108, 254

Tahourdm’s, 15
Tailor V Taylor
Tax collector, 88
Taxes, 44
cyder, 66
hearth, 58
income, 58
inhabited house, 58.
land, 57, 175
men servants, 234*
windows, 88

Taylor, 28, 53, 335 , and v Prussian
tailor ^

Theatre box, 157
Theatre (Oxon ), 134, 135
Theatre Royal (Drury Lane), 18.
Thermometer maker, 282
Thieves, 97
Thimble, 15, 18
Thirteen (New Coll ), 172
Thirty-mne articles, 26, 153
Tithe-dinner, 214

Tithes vel Tythes, 37, 172, 19^ 214,

a39>^94, 334 ^

Toads inadent, 199, 200
Tobacco, 94, 141
Tom Jones, 68
Toothache, i83t
Tooth-drawer, 183
charges, 183
Toys, 226, 328
Trade depression, 300
Tradesmen v Charges
Travelhng, 12, 15, 17, 18, 20, 22, 65,
78, 88, 104, 105, 1 16, 122 et seq,
131, I3Z, 146, 149, 152, 153, 156,
165, 166, 174, 178 , and V Charges.
Treasure-trove, 212
* Treatmg ’ a lady, 47
Trisds, 16, 19, 167, 213 , andv Coroner.
Triple-harp, 102, 103
Trvotum, 159
Tupee, 64

Turnpike dues, 45, 127, 133, 152, 188
Tyger, war-ship, 22

Undergraduates (Cantab ), 179
Undergraduates (Oxon ), 14, 17, 164,
179, ando Gentlemen Commoners,
Gownsmen

348

Index — General

Undergraduate’s not, 163, 164, 172
Unemployment, 300
University system, 158 seq

Vails, 77, 198 , and v Presents
Valentine’s day, 198, 274
Values, comparative, 43, 71, 72, 131 ,
and V Charges

Vehicles v Chaise, Chariot, Coach,
Diligence, Machine, Waggon,
Whiskey
Venison feast, 29
Venus, transit of, 86.

Verses, 15, iS, 148
Vetennary v Horse-doctonng
Village life, 7

Visitations (eccles ), '59, 204, 205,

321

Voting, 164, and V Elections

Wagers, 18, 99 , and v Betting
Wages, 68, 74, 117, 126, 182, 183,
189, 196, 236, 271
Waggon, London, the, 176
Walh lectures^ 46
War alarms, 261, 239
War contributions, 217

Water-engine, 21

Wax-candle, large, 103

Wealth, comparison of, 22, 167 , and

V values

Weather (exceptional), 23, 44, 69,
104, 105, 107, 124, i73» 174? 243,
2475 249 j 313? 336

Weddings v Marriages
Wheel [milometer], 203
Whiskey, t e vehicle, 338, 339
Wiggs vel wigs, 19, 122, 139, 165, 307 ,
andv Tupee

Wilkes riots, 75, 91, 93, 96, 99 , and

V Ha Wilkes

Wills, 106, 1 1 7, 145, 282, 296
Winchester scholar, 22
team, 14
warden, 34
and V Poser
Windmills, 15 1

Windows, 3 1 1, (New Coll ) 264
Wines V Beverages
Winnings at play, 1 14
Women’s event, 90
Woollen manufactor}- , n8
Workbox, 235

W^orkhoiise v House of Industry

PART II

(a) NAMES OF PERSONS (J) NAMES OF PLACES

A page number preceded by ed refers to an editorial portion
« after a name stands for undergraduate

ia) NAMES OF PERSONS

Ackman, Rev — , 250
Acton, M , 163
Adams, Mr , 121, 142, 143
Adcock, Joe (sen ), and wife, 288
Aimes, Miss, 21
Alcock, « , 172
Alexander (tax-survey or), 88
Alldndge, 332
Allen, 185, 200
Ben, 282
Capt R N , 234
M P , 90
Mr, 66

Ames (cooper), 186
Anderton, Dr , 127
Anderton, Mr , 78

Andrews, Chanty, 82.

Harry, 193

Michael, 187, 193, 243, 289
Richard (smuggler), 197, 198, 201,
221, 282
sen , 193, 195

Stephen, 193, 214, 2x5, 230, 269,

318, 333

Anne, aunt, 64, 104

(and Susannah) [Li Histone], 302
Aram (gardener), 202
Archbishop (Cantuar) v Seeker, ed
^55

Comwalhs, ed 3x8, 319
Arnold, Dr , 88
Arthur, Solomon, 45

Index of Persons

Ashford, Wm 92
Attle, Rev — ,251
Atterton, 280
Atwell, Jno , 13
Austin, Rev — , 259
Awbery, u , 143, 172

Bacon, 285

Sir Edmund, ed 227, 233, 249,
^72, 273, 332 j 335
Lady, 248, 249, 272, 273, 288, 326,
327, 328

Mr , 291, 318, 328,

Mrs , 31
Baggs, 28
Baily, 62
Wm , 256

Baker, 193, 281, 333
Betsy, 68
Betty (Mrs ), 68
Henry, 334
Jno , 214
Mrs , 57

(shopkeeper), 229, 304, 324, 331
Miss, 68
Sukey, 68
(Merton CoU ), 16
Baldwin (daughter), 225
Mr , 195, 205, 220, 231, 233,
244,316

Mrs , 220, 237, 246, 316.

Nancy, 237, 246
Vertue, 231, 237
(pubhsher), 336
Ballard, Dr , 127
Banks, Mr , 29
Barnard, Luke, 61, 68.

Barnes, Thos , 99
Barney, 200
Barrow, 5.

Barton, Miss, no
Bates (baili£E), 185, x86
Richard (sen ), 195, 215, 271,

299) 337
Mrs , 320
Bathurst, Ben, 14
Dr, 196, 213, 294, ed 295,

303 ) 329 ) 33O) 334
Earl, ed 295
Henry, ed 295
(jun ), 143
Mr , 164
(sen.), 143
Beanes, 333

Beatniffe (shopkeeper), 331
Beauchamp, Mr , 267
Sir Thos , 249.

Beauchamp-Proctor, Sir Wm , ed 227
Beaufort, Duchess of, 102
Duke of, 102, 140
Beaver, Pope, 26
Beckham (net-maker), 328
Bedford, 28, 30, 31
Beeston, 310
Bell, u , 17
(villain), 248
Beloe, 201, 202
Bennett, Stephen, 75
Bentham, Dr , 171
Berkeley, Lord, 171
Berney, Archdeacon, 321, 322
Bertelet, Jno , 36, 37
Mrs , ed 37
Bertie, 13
Capt , 138

Betty, (servant), 102
(another)^ 282

Bews, 17 , and v I Machine
Bidewell, 193
Jas 5 333

Wm , 214, 222, 333
Biggin, Nancy, 16
Nathaniel, 97
Robert, 97, 209
Bignell, Nancy, r6
Bingham, ^ , 143, 172
Bircham (brewer), 195
Birchenden, Dr , 136, 137.

Bird (servant), 312
Black Jack (gamekeeper), 21 1, 303,

307

Blacks tone. Dr , 13, 141
Blackstones, 264
Bhsse, 127, 129, 138, 141, 143
Miss, 258
Blofield, 205
Board, Misses (2), 208
Bodham, Rev — , 210, 222, 229, 241,
{and brother, 252), 267, 275, 279,

iSS. 307 > 3 Ui 3 «> 337,338. 339
Mrs , 311, 337, 338, 339
Boddy (villain), 248.

Bolton, Mr , 206
Bond, Sally, 97.

Bosworth, Dr , 123
Boteler, Capt R N , 261 , and u ,

14

Boulter (shopkeeper), 226
Bourroughs (Burroughs), 322, 323,
333

Bower, farmer, 34

, 35 , 37 , 44 *

Lewis, 37,44

Bowerbank, 128, 136, 137

350

Index of Persons

Bowls, Canon, 258
and daughter v Windham and
wife, tbtd

Bowles, Jno , 189, 191-3, 2 i 4 -J 5 >

314, 317, 318, 320
Mrs , 192
Boyce, 122
Boys, 169
Bragge, 143

Brainthwaite, Justice, altos * Gobble
289

Branton, Rose, 292
Bray, Dr , 130
Brereton, 150
Brewer, « , 1 5
Bridges, Eliz , 70
(priest- vicar), 42
(villain), 248

Brookes (upholsterer), 195
Brookman, 127
Broome, u , 135, 136
Browne, Mr , 193, 322
Browning (player), 100
Bruce, Capt , 250
Bryant, Mr , 322
Buck, 333

Richard (sen ), 195, 215, 271, 281,

^ 99 ) 337
Robin, 187
Buckle, Mr , 286
Bull, 136
Burge, 44
family, 114.

James, 63

Jno , 59, 260, ed 262,

Mary Russ, 52
Mr , 17s
Mrs , 90
Seth, 4S,

Tom, 82
Will, 48

Wm , sen , 82, 85, 99, 207
Wm , jun , 176
Burland, Sergeant, 66
Burnet, Bishop, 38
Burney, Dr , ed 284
Burns, Mr , 149, 150
Burroughs, farmer, 333
Burrow, Mr , 234
Burrows, Dr, 136, 137
Mr , 193, ai4, 234
Burton, 193, 215
(deceased), 112
Eleanor, 112
Mr , 222, 234,

Mrs , 112.

Busby, u , 143, 172

Bush, farmer, 333
Bushell, 306

Puxton, Justice, 216, 232, 277

Caldecott, 142, 156
Cambridge, Mr and sisters (2), 261
Cantrell, 310
Careless (dog), 223
Carr, Mr , 102, 191, 282
Mrs , 80, 102, 149, 191, 282
Thos (sen), 195, 215, 271, 281,

299 > 337
Tom, 200, 339
Carnngton, Rev — , 278
Carter, Rev — , 326, 327
Cartwright, Wm , 24
Cary (of Shepton), 22
(of Weston), 191, 193, 199, 206,
221, 236, 243, 252, 270, 282, 297,
299, 301, 309, 328, 333, 334, 339,
340

Thomas vel Tom, 214, 271, 281,

299 ) 337 , 339
Case, 193, 333
Wm , 214

Caxton, Elizabeth vel Betty, 236, 238,
244, 275, =^79, 287, 293, 300, 301,
305, 339
brother, 275
father (deceased), 275
Chamber (druggist), 326
Chambers, Miss, 102, 127
Mrs , 80
(tailor), 269
Chandler, 257
(schoolmaster), 194
Charles, Rev — , 257
Charles (servant), 241
Charlotte, Queen-Consort, 272
Chase (bookseller), 308, 336
Cheese, lUchard, ed 37, 43, 45
Chesterfield, Lord, 199
Chiche, Milly, 40
Mr , 60

Chicheley (organist), 1 54
Chriche, Eliz , see Crich
Christopher (infant), 191
Church, 206

Clark, Melliora, ed 177, and v
Woodforde, Jno , Mrs
Clarke, Agatha, 65, S3
Chas , 116

Chas (Imendraper), 209,

Dr , 33, 40, Sh 67* 70 > 7 ^, 79 »
86, 87, 88, 94, 107, 117, 130, 13a,
209

351

Index of Persons

Clatke {cont )

Mrs — 5 born Woodforde, Sobieski,
ed 40
(farmer), 56

Jas , S 3 . 59 . 60, 61, 63, 81, 87, 94,

III, 1 16, 176, 207, 208, 254, 262,
292

James, Mrs , 125

Jenny, 40, 101, 105, 117, las, 1*7.

167
Jo, 118
Miss, 141

Mr , 42, 49, 61, 86, 132,

Mrs , 40, 56
Nancy, loi

Richard 53, 208, 209, 1 16, 1 17, 292.
and Mrs , 254
(pn ). 55. 93

Sam (jvm), 56, 83, 117, 208, aog,
267, ed 268, 271, 272, 273, 274,
27s. 276, 277.

sister [bom Woodforde], loi, 117,
1 18, 125, 168, 202, 203, 254, 255,
267, 268, 269, 27X, 272, 273, 274,
275. 276, 277, 278, 279, 283
Sophy, 292, 296.

(painter), 116
(tailor), 194
(of Arlington), 28
Cleaver, Mr , loi

Clerke, altos Mrs Midnight (player),

58

Clothier, Eliz , 42, 45, ed 55, 106
Cobbe (ratcatcher), 189, 214.

Cock (of Booton), 314
Cocks (Farmer), 61
Coker, 137, 138, 140

(]un.). 143

(sen ), 142, 143, 264, 265
Coleman, Capt , 304
Ellis, 25s
Jno , 92, 132
Mrs , 132
Robin, Mrs , 260

Will, 132, 176, 183, 184, 194, 196,
198, 199, 200, 202, ed 207, 210,
212, 213, 215, 21 6, 222, 225, 226,
229, 230, 235, 238, 240, 241, 244,
247, ed 251, ^52, 253, 260, 261,
266, 268, 275, 276, 279, 281, 285,
286, 287, 289, 290, 291, 293,
294, 296, 303, 305, 306, 308, 309,
314 33^6, 329,

330, 331 , 336, 339
Coleridge [Wm ], 146
Coles, Roger (carpenter), 43
Roger (sen.), 10 1

Collins, aunt, 145
Fanny, 92
Michael, 92
Richard, 67
Colmer, Mr , 53
Cook (jun ), 122

Cooke, 128, 136, 143, 148, 152-5,
157. 169.

Mrs ,45
(sen ), 137
Cooper, Mrs , 308
Cooth (Coothe), u , 128, 143
Coplm, 310

Comwalhs, Archbishop and Mrs ,318,
319

Lord, 332, 333
Corpe, farmer, 175
Wm , 97, 109, 130
Cotton and his brother, 27
Misses (4^ 27
Mrs , 27
Courtney, 150
Coward family, 117
Cox, jumper, 172
Lt -Col , M P , 66, 67, 71, 90.

(sen ), 66
Cream (horse), 35
Creed, 60, 127

Justice vel Squire, 56, 57, 65, 68, 71,

73. 75. 76. 78. 79. 80. 81. 82, 84, 87,

88, 90, 97, 100, loi, 103, no, n6
Squire (jun ), 145
Mr , 89, 96, 1 14

(sen ), 56, 65, 68, 74, 75, 76, 79, 88,
97 . loi*

Crich, Betty, 46, 133
Eliz,ed ss, 117,126, 139
Mary, 36, 139
Crocker (earner), 132
Crocker (Wadham Coll ), 165
Croker, 89, no
Jonathan, 92
Cropp, 19

Cross, Squire, 32, 33, 34
Mrs , and children (3), 32, 33
Richard, 33
Croucher, i6
Crow, Rev — , 14 1
Crowe, 264, 265
Crozier, 15
Cummin (jun ), 143
(sen ), 143

Curtis (thatcher), 168
Curtiss, Miss, 36
Cushion, 337

Tom (sen), 215, 271, 281, 299,
337

Index of Persons

Custance, Edward, 292, 294, 295, 296
Geo , 328

Hambleton, ed 227
Hambleton Thos , 248, 272
vel Hamilton, 328
Jno (grandfatier), ed 227
Jno , squire [of Ringland], ed 227,
228, 233, 235, 242, 248, 249, 266,
267, 269, 272, 273, 276, 280, 281,
282, 285, 287, 288, 291, 292, 293,
294, 295, 296, 299, 301, 302, 306,
313, 314, 317) 318, 3^9) 32O) 32I)
3^3) 326, 327) 328, 33O) 332, 335)
337) 340- ^

Mrs ,ed 227, 228, 235, 242, 248, 249,
251, 267, 269, 271, 273, 276, 282,
285, 286, 287, 291, 294, 295, 299,
301, 302, 306, 312, 313, 314) 3^5)
317, 318, 319, 320, 321, 323, 32d,
3^7) 328, 3^9) 33O) 332, 334) 337)

340

Press, Mr , 184, 186, 187, 203, 204,
242, 249, 272, 273, 278, 280, 285,
287, 288, 290, 294, 295, 296, 297,
3213) 32^6
Wm , 320, 337

Dade, 193, 215
Mr , 214, 280, 333
Mrs , 300
Wm , 318
Darck, 86
Darcy, 122

Darlang (highwayman), 16
Daubenny, 163
Davies, Miss, 134
Davis (fruiterer), 258
Davy vel Davey, Davie, Davis, 241
Mr , 293

Mrs , 152, 154, 189, 199, 205, 210,
241, 252, 290, 293, 298, 299, 301,
302, 305, 308, 309, 310, 315, 316,

317. 327, 328, 334. 336 j 338

and children

Betsy, 241, 290, 300, 301, 302, 306,
340

Nunn, 241

Dawson (Re\ ), Mr and Mrs , 279,

309

Dickens, Colonel, 217, 218
Dicker, Thos (sen), 215, 271, 281,
299) 337

Dimsdale, Baron and Doctor, 76, 77,

86

Dixon, Dr , 107
Dod (baker), 45

Dodd, Acourt, 335
Dr (forger), 199
Dolton, parson, no
Donne, Chas , 241
Miss, 206, 210, 222, 229, 241

, 337

Mr, 196, 198, 206, 208, 210, 217,

222, 229, 241, 290
Mrs , 168, 195, 208, 290
Downe (sen ), and wife and grand-
daughter, 311
Downing family, 191
Mr , 192, 193.

Drake, Sergeant, 192
Duck, 89

Dumas, altas Darking, 16
Dunford, 58
Dunn, Dr , 127
Mrs , 127
Dunnell, 183
Barnard, 185, 293, 310
Harry, 185, 192, 200, 211, 212, 214,

215, 222, 242, 309, 310
Mrs , 242

man and wife, 152
Mrs , 187, 190, 214, 334
Thos , 187, 197
Dupne, 130
Du Quesne •o Q
Durnford, 92

Dutchess (greyhound), 303
Dyer, 18
Dyke, Ned, 35

Eaton, 143, 264, 265
Edmonds (author of Heraldry), 297.
Edward (servant), 337
Elton, Abraham, Sir, 66
Empress of Russia [Catherine], 76
England family, 212
(rector), 212

Robert (servant), 315, 316

Fanny [Fox-Strangeways], 22
Farr, Esq , 71, 83, 88
Miss, 83

Mrs , 75, 83, J03
Ferdinand, Prince, 49
Ferman, Mr , 24$

Field (barber), 305
Figges, Mr , 138
Mrs , 125, 139.

Fisher, Mr (Univ Coll ), 144-5
Mr, 134
Fitch, 24, 27
Henry, 59
(sen ), *5

Aa

353

Index of Persons

Hardy {cont )

Mrs , 2X4

Mr and Mrs , 282, 306*

Hargrove, Major, 47
Harland (tailor), 335
Harper, Sir Harry, 138.

Harris v Parking
Hartley and Robinson vel Robinson
and Hartley, 23
Harvey, Rev Dr, (deed ), 282.
Haugl^ Sir Wm , 66
Haw, 19 , and v I Methodists.
Hawkins, u , 129.

Hayes, 100
Hays, Philip, 13.

Hayward, 34
Head, 156
Hearst, 13, 17

Heigh, Mrs (of Tuddenham), 308

Helhar, 136

Hernng, Mr , 19X, 214.

Hewish, Mr , 25
Hewitt, Mr , 290.

Mrs , 290
(clerk), 328, 330
Highway, Mr , 134, 135, 147
HiU (merchant) and son, 269.
parson, 37

Hmdley, Mr , 78, 79, 89, 100, 102
Mr (Oxon ), 136, 137
Hinton, Lord, xoi
Hitchcock, barber, 45
Hix, farmer, 92
(jun ), 9*

Hoare, 10 1, 301.

(banker), 32, 77, 269
Hole, Miss, 125.

Hol^am, Mr , 229
Holland, Lord, 60
Mr and Mrs (players), 308
Holmes, 128, 129, 130, 134, 143,

m

Holton, 20
Jerry, 2i,

13

Hooke, 1 19
u , 14, 25, 26.

Hooker, 92
Hooks, 133

Hopkins, Rev — , ed. 37
Homer, Jno , 214, 333, 337.

Horwood, Mrs , 144
Hossy, Nancy, 262
Howard, 19

Howes (curate), 147, 152, 153, 171,
172, 196, 198, X99, 2 o6, 210, 222,
229, 241, 242, 245, 252, 266, 279,

285, 290, 298, 301, 302, 309, 310,
3x1, 312, 316, 338
daughter v Dawson
Mrs , X52, 182, 184, 196, 199, 206,
207, 2X0, 222, 229, 24X, 245, 252,
279 > 290J 30 h 3099 310, 3 1 1, SI 5 ,
316, 327, 332, 334, 338
Hewlett, 293, 316, 333
Hubbard, Robin, 281
Hume, ;Bp of Oxford, 26.

Humphrey, 232
Hunt, Dr , 26
Mr (* little *), 256
Huson (highwajmian), 294
Hutchins, Geo , 74, 78, 83, 87,

Sam, 43, 45
Thos , 46, 48

Ilchester, Countess of, 22, 100
daughter v Fanny
Earl of, 7X

Jack (odd boy), 133
(another) v. Warton, Jno
(horse), 289, 290
Jackson, 25.

James (servant), 92*

Jane, aunt (of Bath), 282.

Jane vel Jenny, sister [Woodforde],
13, 18, 20, 21, 37, S4, s6, 82, 83, 89,
loi, 105, 109, 116, 131, 132, 138,
139 , and V Pouncett, Mrs
Jeffenes, 203
PrisciUa, 139

Jeffnes, X38, 163, 164, 173
Jernegan, SirWm , 213,217, 218, 2x9,

2^77, 319

General (‘ a German ’), 319
Jervase, 265
John (infant), 19 1
John (servant), 281
Jonathan (barber), 137
Jones (coach-dnver), 149
Jordan, Miss, 62.

Juno (dog), 288
Juvel, Mr, 322

Kelly, Capt , X38.

Kemp, 133
Kendall, 179.

Keppell, Admiral, 240, ed 241, 246.
Kerr, Mr , 267, 268, 278, 287, 28S
Mrs , 267, 278
Kernson (banker), 294, 330
Ketch, Jack, 148.

King, 143

355

AStZ

Index of Persons

Kingston (bursar), 269
Kirbjr, SaUy, 144

Landy (druggist), 331
and wife and mother, tbtd
Laud, Archbp , zi.

Leach, Parson vel Mr, 61, 94, iii,
112

Leath, Mr , 322.

Lea, 3+

Lee, « , 172

Legate, Benjamin, 189, 190, 19I9 X93,
Z94, 200, 202, 203, 204, 216, 221,
222, 230, 231, 234, 253, 266, 268,
27s, 281, 289, 290, 294, 296, 309,
31 1, 322, 326
(jun ), 193, 214.

Thos , 333

Wm , 189, 204, 281,294, 333
Wm. (jun ), 309, 310
(sen , son of Ringland), 193, 214
Legge, Mr , 49
Le Grisse v G
Le Neve v N.

Lewis, Edmund, 209, 258, 297
Jas , 20, 209, 223, 224, 225, 238
258, 259, 288, 290, 297, 306,

(sen ), 259
(shopkeeper), 335,

Lillis tone, Aime vel Nancy, 237, 238
246, 232, 271, 291, ed 293, 302
Lmley, Molly, 134
Locke (silversmith), 265
Lockyer, Mr , 94

Loder (innkeeper), and Mrs , 257
Lodginton, Capt , 279
Loggin, « , 15
Lovel, 149
Lowthe, 143
Loyd, 25, 26
Mr , 246
Mrs , 246

Lubbock, Mr Percy, ed. 227,
note

Lucas, Jas , 92.

Mr , 143, 257
Mrs (sen ), 257

Maby, David, 76, 80, 86, 131
(overseer), 57
Machhn, Miss, 257
Mr, 157

Mackay (gardener), 316.

Maggs, Parfitt, 86
Mayne, Ann, 213
Major, Farmer, 33
Jno > 34

Man, 193

Mann, Mr , 214, 215, 283, 333
(churchwarden), 292, 318
Mannmg (hardware dealer), 308
Mansfield, Lord, 156, ed 283
Marriott, 155
Marsh, Chas , 257
Mr , 256

Martin (dragoon), 202
(lawyer), 176
Robert, 334

Martmeau (man-midwife), 292, 319
Mary, Mr , 220
Mary (servant), 52, 53
Masey, 146
Masham, 217, 218
Mason, 242.

Master, 24
Masters, Mr , 264
Meach, Mr<f^ 55

Melliar, Counsellor, 20, 65, 66, 67, 70
Miss, 83
Mr , 60

Mrs , 63, 67, 68, 78, 83, 97, 100,
no

Wm , 20, 65, 66, 67, 100
Mercer (jun ), 25
Mrs , 25
(sen ), 25, 26
Messiter, Mr , 13

Midmght, Mrs , 56, 58 , and v
Clerke

Mildmay, 66, 71
MiUachip (brazier), 64
Millard, 256
Betsy, 125
Miss, 280
Mr , 151

Mrs [born Salter], 125, 150, 151,
205

Milton, 122
Mr , 142
Mines, Mr , 128
Minx (dog), 221
Molly [Salmon], 189, 190, 196
Moore, Michael (villain), 307
Miss, 37
Morris, Mr , 128
Morse, Mr , 322

Moss, Chas , Dr. [Bp. of Bath and
Wells], 256

Mottram (stay-maker), 282,

Mountam, Mr , 334
Moysey, Dr., 104

Murphy \pel Morphew] (eccles, proc-
tor), 187, 191, 293, 32*

Murray (Prussian tailor), 182

356

Index of Persons

Nancy, 132.

Neale, Dr , 231
Nelthorpe, 266
Le Neve, Mrs ,315, 321
and daughters, tbtd , 325, 333, 335.
Nevil, Mr , 1 18
Newdigate, Sir Roger, 73
Newman, Anne v Burton, Mrs.

Esq, 13, 1 12
Nicholl, 28
Nicholls, 128
Nicolls, 13, 14.

North, Lord, 115
Norton, 193
(coroner), 52
(mcendiary), 316
Norwich, Bishop of, 149-50.

Oakely, 130, 143.

Oakley, 133
Oglander, 143
Dr , 247, 248, 252,

(jun ), Z7

Harry, 169, 170, 171
(sen ), 26

Orford, Lord, ed 251, 253
Orton (innkeeper), 153, 188
Overton, — , Rev , 62
(of PiU), 132.

Owens (barber), 19, 127, 139

P,, Mr , 146
Page, 318, 333

Paine vel Payne, Alexander, 321,

338

Mrs , tbtd
Frank, 122, 137.

Geo , Mrs , 338
Paine, Mr , 229
Mrs , 138, 229
Mr and wife, 290
(of Shipdam), 309
Paley, Mr , 289

Palliser, Sir Hugh, 240, ed 241, 246
Palmer, 195, 333
Jno , 271
Mr , 2x4.

Sarah, 271

Thos (‘malster'), 297, 310, 333, 336,
340-

(parish officer), 232, 236
Parferoy (gardener), 294
Parfitt, Mr , 146.

Parr, aunt, xo8.

Mrs , 106

Parrott (of Saham), 314.

Parsons, Dr., 148*

[ Partridge (villain), 248
! Paulett vel Pawlett, Lady, 101.

Lord, 81, lox.

Vere, loi.

Payne vel Paine, Frank, 122, 137.
Miss, 75.

(of Brackley), 29.

Peachment vel Peachman (church-
warden), 190, 193, 214, 215, 31 1,
318, 333

Pearce, Mrs , 85 , and v Rooke
Peckham, 156

Peckham, u , 12, 15, x6, 26, 27
Peddle, u , 135, 136, 147
Pedraho (thermometer maker), 282

Peggj m

Jno, 214, 215, 270, 318, 333
Mrs. (sen ), 248.

Penny, Dr , 140, 258, 260
Jno and little daughter, 43
Mr, 21

parson, 46, 102
Thos , 92
Perry, 127
Geo , 74
Jno , 100
Mr , 100
Mrs , 70
Mrs (sen ), 260.

Peter (choirman), 92
Pew, Hannah, 114
Molly, 56
Wm (jun ), 92
PhiHipps (servant), 204
Pickering, Rev — , 165
«, 24

Pitcairn, 127

Pitt, the elder, 49, 55, and ed
Pitters, 26
Plummer, Miss, 83
Pompey (dog), 2ii
Pompier, Capt , 107
Portman, 80
Pott, Mr , 89.

Potter, Archdeacon, 21.

Mrs., 242

Pouncett vel Pounsett, Mr , 124, 125,

136, 137, nh *3*» 138, 139. 166,

175, 176, 303, 307, 308, 309, 334,
335, 338, 229, 335, 353, 354, 359,
260, 363, 396.
infant, i66, i68

Mrs Jane vel Jenny [bom Wood-
forde], 13I) 13*) 166, 176, 306,
207, 308, 309, 334, 335, 226, 238,
339, 330, 23s, 238, 24«, 243, 248,
*53. *54. *6^ *7*. *73.

357

Index or Persons

Pouncett) Mrs Jane (cant*)

282, 283, 288, 292, 296, and V,
Jane, sister

Mrs. (of Cole), 168, 296.

Mrs (born Guppy), 208.

Rachel, 168.

(sen.), 208.

Powel (innkeeper), 178.

Mrs , 78, 107, 119
Lady, 40
Pratt, 193
Mrs , 333

widow [born Cary], 293
Price, Jane, 334.

Pndeaux, Humphrey, D D ,288 andtd
Mr., 288.

Priest, 304, 326
daughter, 206, 329.

Faimy, 240
Jno , 240, 308

Mr , 154, 201, 202, 219, 240, 274,
308, 309, 310, 316, 325, 328, 329
Mrs., 154, 206, 219, 240, 245, 308,
310, 316

Mr (of Reepham), 220, 240, 266,

274, 324

Rebecca, 240
Richard, 322
St John, 229, 266
Prince, Daniel, 12, 21
Mrs , 149, 150, 151
Proviss (Jun ), 66
Prowse, Major, 20
Mrs , 20.

(sen ), 20

Pryer (steward), 23
Pryor, Mr., 29

brother, sister, and niece, tbtd,
Purcell, Rev — , 261
Putt, Major, 66
Pye, Mr , 14
Pyle, Mr , 247

du Quesne, 171, 184, 185, 196, 198,
202, 205,206, 211, 212, 213, 2x6,
2x7, 219, 220, 228, 229, 236, 238,
24X, 252, ed 253, 266, 269, 274,
276, 277, 279, 282, 28s, 303, 309,
210, 311, 312, 313, 315, 316, 318,
3 i 9 » 3*45 3*65 3*85 3*95 3345 338 ;
339

Mrs , 2X0, 2X1.

Quicke, 157

Radnor, Earl of, 115.

Rawbone, 128.

Rawkins, parson, 116, 256.

Rawl, Mr , X38
Rawhns (architect), 320, 323.

Reed, Capt , 22.

Reevans, Mr. and Mrs , 236.

Reeves (farrier), 289, 290.

(tooth-drawer), 183.

Reynell, , 19, 26.

Reynolds, Sir Joshua, 265.

Rice (tailor), 23, 28, 29, 53
Mrs., 28, 29
(musician), 102, 103.

Ridley, Dr , 141 .

Mrs , 171, 173, 187, 191, 194, 311.
Rigby, 128
Rmggar, Royal, 214
Rising, Farmer, 333
Roach, Thos , 80.

Robbard, Justice, 46
and son, tbtd*

Robert (servant), 288
Robin (servant), 198
Robins, Mr , 322

Robinson and Hartley vel Hartley
and Robinson, 23
Rock, Dr , 263.

Rodbard, Harry, 127
Rodney, Sir George, 287 and ed
Rooke, Miss, 56, 88, 92, 93, 94, 99.
Nancy, 18
Tom, 18.

Roop [Roupe ?], Mr., 189.

Rose, Miss, 230
Roupe, Chas , 290, 291.

Miss (* little ^), 279
Turner, 290, 291
[Roop ?], Mrs , 205
Rush, IMUss, 235.

Russ, Andrew, 45, 53, 82, 89, 105, 1X6,
XI9.

Joany, Mrs , 272
Mr , 12.

Russell, 24, 80.

Russen, Rev Benjamin, 2x3.

Ryal, 202, 2o8.

Sale, *4, 34, 78
Salmon v Molly [Salmon].

Salter, Dr , X50
Sam [Clarke, q 208
Sampson, Jack, X39
Sandford, X43
Sandi|ord, 322.

Sandwich, Lord, 249, ed. 250.

Sanford, Parson, 34, 35.

Mrs and children, 35.

Sansom, Mr., 90.

Sarah (servant), 97.

358

Index of Persons

-Sairle, Geo , Sir, ed. 283
SaviUe, Miss, 157
Scott (glover), 308.

Scrogg, 78,

Selstoncj Mr , 128, 1 37
Seymour, Lady Francis, 115
Lord, 115, 163.

Mr j po.

Shackleford, Mr , 12$

Shaddelow, Mr , 243.

Sheffield, Mr , 28
Shelford, Mr , 203
Sherman, Miss, 186, 203, 282, 287
Shute, ensign, 237.

Shuter, 157.

Simonds, 321
Smglehurst, 306

^ er, Mr and son, 260, 261.

^ ^ er, Wm (villain), 307
Slade, Mr , 257
Small (Freemason), 143
Smith, 338
Smith, M P , 90
(glaaer), 325
(mnkeeper), ed 231, 269
James, 195, 201, 214, 213, 230, 242,
271, 299, 307, 313, 337
Tane, Mrs , 221
(mercer), 308
Shadrach, 19
Tom, 127, 259
widow, 149
Smyth (attorney), 31 1
(his son. Fellow of New College),
tbtd

Snell, Hannah, 224
Snooke, Geo , 18, ed 32.

* Spamsh Charles * v Townshend,
Chas , ed

Spaule (blacksmith), 203.

Speed, Chas , n, loi
Wm , 86.

Spencer, Mr , 10 1
Misses, 101
Mrs , loi
Spincks (boy), 283
Spraggs (gardener), 320, 336, 340
(son of), 336, 338
Springal, Wm , 213
Spnngle (merchant), 269.

Squire, Capt R N , 270, 296, 298
Stacy, Ahce, 109, 119, 139
Stavordale, Lord, 78
Stephen (servant), 275.

Stephens, Grace, 106
Sterling, Mr., 286
Stmton, Mr , 129

Stockman, PhiU and child, 59.
Strahan (prmter), 150
Strangeways, Wm ,116
Strong, Mr., 55.

Strop, Geo., 148.

Subwarden (New Coll ), 14, 120.
Sukey [Bosly], 199, 215, 216, 232,
233, 236, 237.

(sister of), 216

Susannah (and Anne) [Lillis tone], 302.
Swanton, 133, 137, 143.

Sweete, Robt , 92.

Sybbyll (servant), 255, 296,

Syms, Clem , 314.

Tom, 319

Tahourdm, 15
Taswell, Rev — ^ 321, 322.

Taimton, 44.

Taylor, Anne, 221.

Jas , 212
Peter, 66
u , 130

Thomas, Cass, 52
Mr , 45, 209
(of Cary), 256, 259.

(of l>ereham), 289

Thome, Dr, 192, 301, 324, 331,

33a

Thorpe, 134, 135, 142, 157.

Thurlowe, Dr (Bp of Rochester),

, >36, 137

(Mayor of Norwich), 278.

Thurston, Thos (sen ), 214
Toll (shopkeeper), 331
Tom, aunt, 56, 127.

uncle, 22, 67, 1 19, 282.

Tompkins (grocer), 165
Mrs , 165
Sukey, 165
Tompson, Wm , 171
Tooley and family, 305
Tottie, Farmer, 49
Toulmin, Mr , 239, 240
Townshend, (Dhas , ed. 2ii.

Chas , Honble , 21 1, 212, 217, 2x8,
219, 269, 270, 277, 280, 288, 303,
, 307 » 318, 3191 3 ^ 3 , 324., 328, 329
Mrs , 212, 269, 288, 328, 329.

Jas j 133 ? 13^? 137? 138, 148.

Lord, 217, 218.

Mr (wine merchant), 133
Trenchard, 149

Trevihan vel Trevylyan, 68, 73.

Troit, Mr , 145
Trotman, 128, 143.

Turner (jun ), la

359

Index of Persons

Tyc, 291,

(servant), 312

Tynte, Chas , Sir, 66, 67, 71, 73
Uncle, 20

Unity (servant), 97
Uttens, Mr , 293.

Uvedale, Samj Capt » 1549 155*
Mrs., 155, 156.

Vice-chancellor (Oxon ), 16, 160.

Wamhouse, Rev — , 90,

Walker (beadle), 170.

Wall, 143.

r>r , 133, 138, 142, 163, 265
Thos , 322

Walpole, Geo v Orford
Walton (artist), 323, 326
Warden (New Coll ), 13, 29, 78, 120-2,
2475 ^52, 315
Warden (Winchester), 34
Waring, « , 24, 31.

Warton vel Wharton, Geo , 186, 281
Jno. vel Jack, 186, 190, 191, 200,
252, 281, 296, 309, 330, 339, 340
Mrs , 336
Tom, 340.

172

Wason, Jenny, 112
Nancy, 112, 114, 116, 119
Waters, Miss, iii«

Mr,a 57

Watson, Jno , 336
Watts, Rev. — ^ 209
Weaver, Mr and Mrs , 29
Webber, 26, 31, 127, 128, 129, 134,
13s, 136, 264, z 65
(proctor), 138.

«,iS.

Webster, 167, 168
Mrs , 167, 168
Welch, u , 14
Weller, Geo , 15
Wesley, ed., 177
West, Dr., 137
White, 20, 61
Ann, 263

Betsy, Miss, iii, 119, 125, 127,
132, 138, 14s, 167.

Bill, i3«.

(infant), 88
Jas , 263
Jenny, 88.

(lawyer), 168

Mr , 88, 125, 131, 145, 176, 256, 262

Mrs , 53, 1 1 8, 208.

Robert, 292, 296
Robin, 61
Sam (Mrs ), 53

Sister, 88, 106, 125, 131, 132, 138,
167, 176, 209, 256, 259, 260
Whithead, Mr , 22
Whitmell, Rev — , 205, 322
Whitmore, Dean, 17, 18, 28
Wickham, Mr., m, 114, 115, 117, 119,
Betty, 260
Fanny, 260
Mrs , 125, 260, 261
Rev — , 255, 256, 260, 261.

Tom, 2^, 263.

Wight, 144
Osborn, 149
Wileham (barber), 336.

Wilkes, 75, 91, 93, 99
WiUen (schmolmaster), daughter and
son, 223

WiUiam (servant), 126
Wilhaxns, Dan, 138.

(]un), 31,137, 143
(sen), 172
u , 15, 18

WiUmott, Judge, 19
Mr , 18

Wilmot, Jos , 86
Wilson, Mrs , 213
(sen ), Rev , 184, 213
Windham, Jack and wife, 257
Wm , 217, 218
Wittick, Farmer, 97
Mrs , 97
Sarah, 97.

Wittys, Farmer, 85.

Witwick, Rev — ,62
Wont, Jno , 292
Wood, 148

Woodco(^, Robt , 29 1
WooDFORDE, James, dtartst

[Note The sub-headings are in
logtcal^ not alphabetical order ]

descent of, ed i
birth, ed 10

attnbutes, ed vu, ed ix, ed 6
generosity o. I. Alms, Presents
loyalty v Charlotte, queen-con-
sort.

and Oxford, 11-32, iii, 120, 127,
132, 140, 145, 157 et seq^ 168
et seq

as proctor, 135, 136, 147
and clerical office, 33 et seq^ 181
et seq

360

Index of Persons

and parish troubles, 79, 81, ed 84,
9Z, 23a, 233

and family do v Woodforde, Jno ,
and I Drunkenness
unhappy love affair, 168 , and v
White, Betsy

and gastronomic consolations v
I Bills of fare
and hospitahty v thtd
incident of gallantry, 262 , and v
Hossy, Nancy

and poor relations, 20, 2i , and v
Lewis, James

pastimes v I Cards, Fishing
and contraband • v Andrews,
Richard, and I Smugghng
and squirearchy v Creed, Custance,
Townshend (Honble Charles)
"knd visits to Bath, 104 , London,
17 , Somerset, 253
and relatives v mfra
Woodforde, Ann, 13.

Bill, 56, 176, 178, 183, 184, 185,
186, 187, 188, 189, 192, 194, 195,
201, 203, 204, 206, 207, 208, 213,
215, 216, 217, 218, 220, 221, 223,
224, 225, 226, 228, 229, 230, 231,
*32, 233, 234, 23s, 236, 237, 238,
239, 240, 244, 2SS, 268, 271, 272,
282, 2S3, 284, 285, 296, 298, 301
Bob, 44, 82

Frank, 22, no, 118, 127, 131, 132,
168, 207, 292, and wife, 292
Heighes (ancestor), ed. 2
Heighes (brother of diarist), 53, $6,
60, 62, 81, 93, 95, 97, 98, 100, loi,
102, 107, 125, 132, 139, 141, 167,
168, 17s, 176, 207, 208, 209, 254,
271, 301, 31Q, 337
James, dtartst v supra*

Jane » Jane, sister, and Pouncett,
Mrs

Jno (ancestor), ed i.

(brother of dianst), 22, 47, 49, 52,
S3> 54. 59. 60, 61, 63, 64, 65, 67,
68,73.75.80,83, 85,87,88,93,
100, 105, 107, 109, 1 13, 1 16, 132,
141, 145, 175,177,207,218,254,
289

Mrs , 14s, 254.

Juliana, 254

Nancy ed. 175, 254, 262, 267, 268,
269, 271, 272, 273, 274, 276, 277,
279, 280, 281, 283, 284, 288, 291,
294, 298, 299, 300, 301, 302, 306,
307, 308, 310. 312. 313. 314, 3*5.
317. 318, 319, 320, 321, 322, 323,

324, 325, 326, 327. 329, 330, 331.

332, 336, 337, 338, 339, 340
R E H (descendant), ed vii,ed 297
Robert, ed i

Samuel, Rev , D D (ancestor), ed i.
Samuel, Rev (father of dianst), 20,

21, 35j 475 5^5 53» 54j 59>

64, 82, ed 85, ed 88, 104, 105,
106, 107, 108, 109, 1 13
wife of (mother of dianst), 41, 42,

475 5^5 53) 54
Sam (jun.), 125, 132, 168, 176, 208,
301

Thos (of Taunton), III, 245
Tom, 100
Wm vel Bill, q v
Woodhouse, Sir John, 217

« 5 1345 135

Woodward, 157
Worth, Dr , 134
Wragg, Mr , 256
Wray, Miss, 249, ed, 250
Wnght, Mr , 70

{b) NAMES

Abbey Milton, ed 12

Abingdon v Abington

Abington vel Abbington, ed 12, 23,

31

Acde, 285
Adderbury, 264
Alford Well, 175
Allhampton Field, 167.

Amesbury, ed 253
Andover, ed. 264

Ansford, 2, 10, 11, 12, 18, 19, 20, 21,

32, 33, 34, 40, 45. 47. 54, 59. 60, 62,
68, 7°, 73, 78, 79, 83, 85, 95, 100,

F PLACES

102, 103, 104, 106, 107, 109, no,

II3. I15, II7, I18, H9, 120, 124,

125, 126, 127, 131, 132, 138, 139,

144, *45. *65. *66, 168, 174, 175,

176, 1 81, 182, 186, 206, 207, 209,

210, 224, 253, 258, 259, 262, 263,

267.

Ardington, 28
Attleborough, ed 207.

Attiebndge, 185, 186, 200, 289.
Avord, 45, 49, 61
Aylesbury, ed. 207, ed 253,

Aylsham, 321, 322.

Index of Peaces

Babcary, 33, 35, 36, 37, 43, 44, 46, 53.
Badminton, 102, 140,

Baldock, 178, ed, 207.

Barbary coast, 268

Barton Mills, 1 50, ed 207, ed» 253

Batcombe, ed 1x7.

Bath,<46, 47 . 1 ^ 7 % 83, 104, loj,

114, X 22 , 124, 2 X 0 , 258.

Beeston, 225
Bell-string Rood, X90
Bentley, 38.

Berkeley, 20
Bethnal Green, 2x3
Bibury, X44
Bicester, 13
Bmsey, 265
Biandford, xix.

Bodmin, 165
Booton, 314
Boston (Mass ), X73.

Bourne Bridge, 150
Boxmoor House, x 54
Boy’s Water, 25
Brand, 275, 307
Brest, ed. 262.

Bndewell, X34
Bridgwater, 65, 66, 90
Brinton, 259

Bristol, 32^ 47, 59, 202, 258
Bun’s Gardens, Norwich, 282.
Burford, 47, X23, 144, X65
Butly, 85.

Bradkley, 29.

Bruton, 22, 45, 71, 80, X26, X46, 176,
255.

Cambridge, King’s College Chapel,
179.

Caribees, 303,

Cary vel Castle Cary, 2, 10, 21, 46, 47,
481 S*. S 3 > 64 ) 6s, 67, 68, 69, 81, 82,
84, 86, 89, 90, 92, 93, 99, 100, 207,
209, 254, 260.

Cary’s Pitt, 203
Catsashe Hundred, 88
Catcott, 65, 66
Charleston (Carolina), 285
Charlton, xx6.

Cheddar, 260, 261
Chesterton, 29
Chippenham, xxo
Cirencester, X23, X44.

ClanviUe, 45
Cley, ed 251.

Cole, 1x6, X25, 138, 254.

Copsely, 277
Corton, 257

Cuba, 22.

Cucklington, xxo

Dereham, 189, 2x8, ed 251, 300, 304,

305*311*

Dimmer, 272
Ditchet, 86

Dorchester (Dorset), 256
Draton, 31

Duke Street, Westminster, 149
Dunstable, X78, ed 207
Durham, 222.

Earlham, 227, 233, 3x8, 328
East Charlton, 35, 36, 40, 44
East Indies, 279
Easton, 236, 305
Easton Reeds, 216
East Tuddenham, 198, 236, 312*
Elmham, 2§^

Elsixeld, 23
Elsmg, X84.

Enson, X23.

Epping Forest, 150.

Evercreech, 46, 52, 125, X41, 289
Everly, ed X2, 133, ed 207
Evershot, X2
Exeter, 261

Falkland’s Island [Falkland Islands],
270.

Famborough, ed 12, ed 207.

Four Acres Field, 106
France Green, 280.

Frome, 234.

Gadmgton, 134.

GaUhampton, 70.

Gannard’s Grave, 86, 259.

Garveston, 275, 305
Greenwich, 173
Grove Place, 6x

Hambridge, 63
Hampshire, 324, 332
Harding, 63, 64, 107.

Harlowe, 150
Hartford, 86.

Harwich, 206
Hatspen, 100
Havann^, 22
Henbndge, 60, 1x2
Hertford v Hartford
High Hall, Wimbome, 59
Hinton, 8i.

Hitchm, 179, ed. 207

36 z

Index of Places

Hockemg, 15a, 171, 185, 196, 199,
24.7, 290, 302, 309, 315, 327, 332,

338. 340

heath, 306
Holland, 76

Honingham, 21 1, 223, 236, 269, 277,
318, 3 ^ 3 , 334
Horsington, 10 1
Houghton Hall, ed 251
Hounslow Hea&, 116
Hungerford, ed* 12, ed 207
Hyde Park Corner, ed 17

Ipswich, 155, 156

Jersey, 300

Keenton, 36
Kilkenny, 259
Kingsettle All, loi
Kingsgate (Kent), 60

Lad’s Lane, London, 232
Lenwade, 310

Lenwade vel Lenswade vel Lenewade
Bndge, 180, 225^237, 281, 324, 328,
329, 330

Lenwade Mill, 309
Leonard vel Leonade, 185, 200, 213
Ling vel Lyng, 220, 231, 233, 237, 239,
240, 244, 246, 269
Little Melton, 236

London, 303, 311, 321, 323, 331, 335
Longeville Pnory, Normandy, ed i8i
Long Lane, ed 207
LoVmgton, 56

Lower House (Ansford), 21, 52, 53,
et altbt
Lydford, 59
Lynn Regis, ed 251

Maidenhead, 149

Mattishall, 190, 267, 290, 294, 311,
324, 328, 330, 337, 338
Milhome Port, 257
Morton, 195, 199, 281, 293, 309, 310,
322

Mousehold Heath, 202

Needham, ed 154

Newbury, ed 253

New Hall, Ringland, 323

New Markett, 1 50, ed 207, ed 253

Newton-Purcell, 24, 27

Newtown, ed 12

North Tuddenham, 203.

Norwich, 151, 153, 184, 187, 194, 195,
ed 201, 202, ed 204, 206, 212, 216,
217, 233, 234, 236, 239, 240, 266,
267, ed 268, 271, 274, 278, 279,
285, 286, 291, 292, 294, 298, 299,
300, 303, 304, 306, 307, 310, 314,
3 i 5 > 3 i 9 > 323 je<i 324 j 33 o> 33 Ij

335 > 337 » 339
North America, 332
Nottingham, 20, 21, 209, 306

Old Downe, 124, 127, 165.

Ottery St Mary, 146
Overton, 248

Oxford Apodyterium, 170 , Blue
Boar Inn, 210, 264 , Botley Road,
70, 265 , Castle, 16, 24, 148 ,
Colleges Balhol, 147, B N C-, 135,

148, 173 , Christchurch, 26, 120,

134, 146 , C C C , 25 , Exeter, 129,
130 , Magdalen, 13 , Merton, 16,

135, New College, n, 31, 34, 78,
80, 118, 119, 122, 130, 136, 164, 172,
178, 181, 247, 248, 257, 264, 265,
et altbt ^ Queen’s, 24, 59, 136,
(fire) 242, Saint Mary Hall, 135,

149 , Trimty, 209 , University,
129, 134, 144 , Wadham, 14,
(ed ) 147, Worcester, 130, Corn
Market, 46, 144, 165 , Cross Izm,
14, George Lane, 129, High
Street, 28, 265, Hohnwell (Hol>-
well), 15 , Magdalen Bridge, 265 ,
New College Lane, 12, New Inn,
128 , Pig-market (Schools), 170 ,
Port Meadow, 14, 265 , St Giles’
Church, 19 , St Giles’ [Street],
265, St Thomas* Church, 16,
Shotover, 237, 285 , Theatre, 134,
135 , University Church, 171, 265 ,
Wootton, 205

Pembroke, 229
Petersburg, 76
Petty France, 124, 140
Pill, 132
Plymouth, 261
Pond Close, 65, 107
Pondicherry, 225
Pool, 55,

Portsmouth, 260

Quantrell’s Gardens, Norwich, 286
Quebec, 12

Quebec * folly *, Dereham, 305
Queen Camel, 257

363

Index of Places

Radstock, 83*

Reepham, I95, 220, 234, 321, 322,
324

Ringland, 191, 234, 249, 266, 272, 276,
280, 288, 291, 292, 294, 312, 321,
326, 327
Rising, 280
Rivett’s Estate, 191.

Royston, 179, ed 207, ed 253

Saham, 238, 314.

St Albans, 63, 107
St Eustatia, W 1 , 303
St James’s Palace, 156
St Martin’s, W. 1 , 303
Salisbury, ed 263, ed 264
Sandford Orcas, 73
Sandy Hill, 337
Sanforde, 18

Scotland altas North Britain, 288
Seme [Ceme Dorset, 55
Shapmck (Somerset ?), 12
Sharvord [Shawford ^], 12
Sheerness, 270, 296, 298
Shepton Mallett -Del Shepton, 21, 66,
III, I2S, 127, 138, i 4 S> >67, 255
Shepton Montague, 255
Sherborne, ed 32, 89, 202, 256
Shipdam, 309
Somerton, 88, 202
Southampton, 23
South Cadbury, 112, 257, 25S
South Cary, 260
Spargrove, 117
Sparham, 205, 242.

Spithead, 268
Stanstead, 150
Stanton Woods, 13
Stock, 88
Stockbndge, 263,

Stonehenge, 87
Stourton, 32
Stow, 27-

Sutton vel Sutton Montis, Ii2«
Swa^am, ed 251, 296

Tame [Thame], 178, ed 207
Taimton, 27, 65, 67, 107
Taverham, 205

Tedbury [Tetbury], 123, 140, 174
Thame v Tame
Thames, 23

Thetford, 150, ed 207, 306
Thurloxton, 24, 27, 32, 33

Townshend’s Clumps, 303
Tring, 178, ed 207
Tuddenham, 266, 312, and v East
T , North T
Twidkenham, 149
Twyford, 10 1

Upper Grosvenor Street, 149

VauxhaU, ed 17
Virgima, 333

Walford, 35
Wantage, 28

Wells (Somerset), 79, 81, 90, 115, 165,
260, 261

Wells (Norfolk), ed 251, 269
Wensum river, ed 181
West Camel, 43
Westcombe, 208

Weston Longeviile vel Weston, 14^^
14*5 147531485 1S*5 *7*5 *845 *855
186, 187, 188, 189, 190, 191, 195,
196, 198, 199, 200, 201, 202, 204,
206, 210, 21 1, 212, 213, 221, 223,
224, 227, 229, 230, 232, 235, 237,
239, 24a, 251, 252, 253, ed 265,
ed 269, 271, 273, 275, 276, 278, 280,
282, 28s, 288, 289, 291, 292, 294,
*995 30*) 3035 3065 3075 3**5 3*35
3*45 3*S5 3*75 3*05 3**5 3**5 3*^5
3305 33*5 3355 3365 3375 34®
Weston-on-the-Green, 27
Weymouth, 102, 256, 257
Whaddon Chase, 29
Wick Bridge, 254
Wiley, 133, ed 207
Wimbome, 59
Winborough, 251, ed 252
Win canton, 47, 62
Winchester, ed 22, 29, 115, 263, ed
264, 331.

Windsor, 315, 325
Wingfield, 309
Wmterbum, ed 12
Witchingham, 196, 200, ed 294, 333,
334

Witney vel Whitney, 123
Wood-Norton, 205
Wootton (Oxon.), 2.0$

Yarlington, 6i

Yarmouth, 153, 188, 226, ed 268,
272, 283, 284, 285, 317
York Town (Va ), ed 333

364